Twisted HiME
by marashapeshifter
Summary: The HiMEs are trying to change things but not all is as it seems.
1. Prologue

This is a dark post-series stories story whose premise is: "What if Mikoto defeated Miyu?"

If you're not familiar with the series, a lot of this may be quite confusing. Some names are borrowed from Mai Otome but the fic is set in the Mai HiME universe with the Mai HiME characters. Most of the characters will be about five years older here so expect them to be a little more grownup than what you encountered in the series.

**Twisted HiME - Prologue**

**by Mara S. S. **

They called her the Crystal Princess, the wife of the Obsidian Lord who brought the world to a new era. The Crystal Princess was venerated like a godess for having the strength and wisdom to bring to fruition the Obsidian Lord's revolution.

But in whispered conversations and in the silence of their hearts, they called her the Twisted Hime. The source of the Obisdian Lord's great power that allowed him to bring the rest of the world to its knees.

Most of the world was under the Obsidian Lord's control. There was nothing you could do and there was nothing you could say that his police and spies could not report. The military was perepetually on alert, ostensibly agains the terrorists who threatened the peace.

Some argued that these were peaceful times where famine and disease was controlled. It was left unsaid that this was thanks to the Obsidian Lord's choke hold around the rest of the world.

The Crystal Princess was not the only HiME of course, simply the winner of the Festival. There were twelve other HiMEs who participated in that gruesome Festival five years ago that decided the fate of the world.

Four of the HiMEs died in the Festival and were now honored as martyrs to the cause. Seven were rebel leaders, the most wanted terrorists in the post-Revolution era. The last HiME you never mentioned, not even to those you trust the most. The Obsidian Lord was always watching. Who knows where a stray word may get you in trouble? Not much was known about her, only that she was the last among the HiME's to fall.

Some said she was defeated by the Crystal Princess but if so, why were there only eleven Pillars in the blessed land of Fuuka? Others said she killed herself but, no one could ever answer why. Yet others maintained that she had gone into hiding and was simply biding her time.

Regardless of what had happened to the last HiME, she was a thing of the past. It was the seven rebels you had to be careful of. Yes, five years after the Festival there were still a few countries free of the Obsidan Lord's influence... But that could soon change…

TBC

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Disclaimer: Mai HiME belongs to Sunrise. 


	2. Spymaster

**Twisted HiME – Spymaster**

**by Mara S. S. **

A red star glowed brightly outside the window, twinkling arrogantly as if to outshine the pale moon beside it. Kikukawa Yukino was amused to see that the HiME star remained the same no matter where in the world she was. She had arrived late that morning in the city of Paris to intercept a message from one of her informants. Riding one of the bullet trains imported from Japan made her feel nostalgic but the frequent military checkpoints reminded her where and when she was. Travel was really faster these days thanks to the government's numerous transportation projects. On the other hand, the more cynical noted that speedy transportation only made for quicker troop movement.

Yukino saw only a little of the city that day. She bought a copy of "Lord of the Flies" from a used bookstore and ate a late lunch in a café but that was pretty much it. Appreciating the sights was difficult when her stomach was tied in a knot as it always was when she needed to travel in disguise through government controlled territories. She was ostensibly a foreign student traveling home for the summer but while the secrecy was necessary that didn't mean she had to enjoy it. It frayed her senses to be always on the alert and her hand twitched nervously for the gun hidden in her jacket.

The hotel room she used that night was sparsely furnished, befitting her status as a not too well off student. Scanning the room for bugs was a lesson harshly drilled into her during the war but her search yielded nothing. After double and triple checking the locks on the doors, the former HiME pulled out the "Lord of the Flies" book she bought earlier and began the painstaking process of decoding her agent's message. As the Intelligence Director of the resistance, all informants answered to her and she alone knew their true identities and what encryption process each of them used.

It was ridiculous actually, for the Intelligence Director to be out in the field. The shy woman was more comfortable controlling her vast network of informants from her desk back at the headquarters. _That_ was her specialty, not the subterfuge Nao was so fond of or the combat Akane excelled in. Yukino sent her eyes everywhere she could and she'd developed a talent for sifting through all the information to arrive at the truth behind all the lies. In an irony she didn't much appreciate, she was becoming less like Haruka and more like the tea soaked woman who caused Haruka's death.

Even if she was often hesitant in the field, a sense of responsibility that would make Haruka proud forced the former secretary to attend to the high priority message herself. The message came from one of her sleeping agents, one highly placed within the government and one she had never needed to use before. That a message had finally come only highlighted the opportunities and possible consequences of the situation. When she finished extracting the message, Yukino's heartbeat sped up as the full impact of the message finally hit her. She rubbed her tired eyes and ran over the message again to make sure the words didn't change right before her eyes.

T H & O L . P i l g r i m a g e . A n n i v e r s a r y

"TH" referred to Tokiha Mai, the Twisted HiME while "OL" was Kanzaki Reito, the Obsidian Lord. Nowadays, a pilgrimage was only made to one place: the blessed land of Fuuka where tourists could view from a distance the mysterious Crystal Dome, the remains of Fuuka Academy, and the heavily guarded Eleven Pillars.

So that meant the royal couple would be making a pilgrimage to Fuuka. The Obsidian Lord often traveled but it was rare for the Twisted HiME to be seen in public. Indeed, as far as Yukino could determine, the Twisted HiME had never left the palace at Neo-Tokyo since shortly after the end of the festival. Perhaps there would be a significant event of some sort? It was certainly no accident that the pilgrimage would occur on the anniversary of the Festival's end. The resistance and their allies would need to act fast to take advantage of this opportunity.

"We've had precious few such opportunities lately"thought the spymaster as she disposed of the message. Most of the rebel's work had been limited to defending the few places that still resisted. But this, this was their first chance to strike directly at the heart of the government. No, wait, that wasn't precisely true. They'd had many chances during the festival five years ago. Instead of being caught in Nagi's mind games, they could have cooperated with each other. Yukino especially could have noticed that their Student Council Vice President was the Obsidian Lord. Their last chance had been when Midori revived Miyu.

M. I. Y. U. was a robot built by Father Glear with the ability to dematerialize objects made from photons. That was how she defeated Harry, Akane's Child. That was also how she could have dematerialized the eleven pillars, returning to each of the HiMEs their Child and their most valuable person. With those, they could have destroyed the HiME star. They could have destroyed the Obsidian Lord. She could have had Haruka back and that hope died hardest of all. In a way, she could now clearly see in herself what Shizuru saw in both of them before.

"If it's for my dearest one, I will do anything." Shizuru once said with her blank face and polite Kyoto accent. It was true; she would have done anything to protect Haruka, no matter how scary. She now understood the desperation, the fear and the devotion for the person who had become the center of her life. It was Shizuru that killed Haruka, but it was Mikoto who destroyed Miyu and the last of her hopes.

She could have had Haruka back, could have had her protector and friend with her once again. She did her best now to be strong, but it was Haruka who had always taught her to be so. She could have had Haruka back. She could have… She could have… She could… She could do nothing now, except to continue the fight, continue her work of sifting fact from fiction.

It was an accident to tell the truth, that she had ended up in charge of Intelligence. At the start of the Obsidian Lord's Revolution, the HiMEs had been hunted down, pursued everywhere they went. Those were frightening times, when the government was still gaining control of other countries. Yukino had been the one to monitor those who resisted and those who were sympathetic. The shy girl's list of contacts had expanded out of necessity and there were times when her informants were barely able to keep the HiMEs one step ahead of the new government in the early days of the war.

They were branded terrorists now, hence the need for disguises. The HiMEs would need to find a way to enter Japan covertly if they wanted to take part in the operation Yukino was sure would be planned. The young Intelligence Director leaned back in her chair and ran over the possible scenarios in her head. One thing for sure, this operation would require the aid of all the rebellion's allies.

With much practice, Yukino sent carefully worded emails to selected people. One heavily encrypted one was sent back to headquarters via a circuitous route while others carefully probed the veracity of her informant's news. The red star above laughed at her efforts and watched as she methodically prepared for her departure the next day.

-o-

Meanwhile, in a poorly-lit smoky bar, the leader of the Pink Stripe Gang smiled demurely at the prey sitting beside her when she felt one of her many cell phones ring.

In one of the Okuzaki clan's strongholds, a messenger pigeon arrived for the rebellion's top operative.

In a temple of the new state religion, a veiled white-robed priestess sat in the confessional listening to the report of an unrepentant sinner.

In the rebellion headquarters at Garderobe, the Okuzaki representative was in the middle of a discussion with the Special Research director when their energetic general burst in. She flashed a smile at them, struck a pose and announced "HiME Rangers, it's time to assemble!"

TBC

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Disclaimer: Mai HiME belongs to Sunrise. 


	3. Priestess

The poem below was adapted from "The Lay of Leithian" by J. R. R. Tolkien.**  
**

**Twisted HiME – Priestess**

**by Mara S. S. **

_I hate her._

That was the first thought on Munakata Shiho's mind when she woke up and it would also be her last thought before she slept. The well furnished room of the HiME turned priestess listened impassively to the litany it had heard many times before. The elegant bed, the lush carpet, the soft bedding and the generally easy life were comforts that turned the head of many an acolyte. Not this white robed priestess though. This priestess had her heart set on only one thing.

_I hate her._

Revenge. What else? Her mind was calm; the hatred she bore burned cold, rather than hot. The still childish face was determined, the steel unusual in one so young. Her every movement had a purpose, her every action it's place as she reached for her goal.

_I hate her._

Revenge. On whom, you ask? Why no other but the Crystal Princess. The Twisted HiME. One who used to be known as Tokiha Mai. The false friend who promised one thing but went around her back to bewitch her Tate. The red haired witch who proved she'd cared nothing for Tate when she joined the Obsidian Lord. That twisted soul hid behind the Palace walls was the only HiME who didn't have to endure the loss of her most important person.

_I hate her._

Many shared her hate. Many had lovers, brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers who were killed in the war. Japan's imperial family and the royal lines of other countries were slaughtered, down to the last man, woman and child. Whole armies were obliterated in the war and many nations mourned the deaths of its sons and daughters. None however, were driven in the same way she was. None could match the self-feeding hatred she felt as she spiraled down into its depths.

_I hate her._

The Palace walls were impenetrable. The ranks of the priestesses, as Shiho found, were not. All religions and forms of worship were outlawed except for the state religion they called the Matsuri. The Matsuri was peculiar in that it only accepted female priestesses and required them to always wear the white robes and the white veil, fitting for the supposed brides of the HiME star. The veil was what allowed Munakata Shiho to enter the priesthood as Yuuichi Hanayome.

_I hate her._

Shiho rose quickly and donned the smiling mask of Yuuichi Hanayome, one of the high ranking priestesses of the temple. Shiho left her room and entered the dining hall where the acolytes and priestesses had their breakfasts together. She sat down gracefully and was promptly served by an acolyte. "Good morning." She cheerfully greeted the young girl who became flustered at having someone so highly regarded paying attention to her. "Goo… Good morning Yuuichi-sama!" The acolyte turned pink and hastily backed away.

"Hana-chan, you really shouldn't scare the girls like that." Irina, the priestess seated to her left chided.

Shiho protested "I just said good morning, it wasn't my fault."

"Hana-chan gets away with so many things because she's so cute." The other woman chuckled. Shiho certainly knew _that_ and used it to her advantage.

"By the way, was there anything interesting at the confessional last night?" Irina asked.

With the ease of long practice, Shiho kept her voice neutral and replied nonchalantly "Nothing unusual…" _just that I'm being called to a meeting of the rebel HiMEs…. _"I'm glad I'll be turning that over to you starting tonight."

"You'll be on teaching duty again right?" the other priestess sighed. "Too bad, it's no fun to travel outside. By the way, have you heard what Miya-chan did…?"

Shiho tuned out the chatter of her fellow priestess instead mentally running over the things she'd need to bring on her trip. She was one of the priestesses that served the community as teachers. They went from school to school educating the children to have faith in the Matsuri. It was a duty that commonly fell to her because few priestesses were willing to leave the luxuries of the temple. Her absence from the temple would not be noticed, few would dare question her. She was one of the younger priestesses, true, but she was also one of the most senior in the faith having joined the priesthood earlier than most.

Her fellow priestess swallowed down the rest of her breakfast with her gossip. Shiho was already done and waiting for the other to finish, then they hurried along with everyone else to the morning service. All of it was made up of course and borrowed elements from other religions. Nevertheless, Shiho knew it all by heart because that knowledge was an immense advantage in the priesthood.

The morning service centered on the retelling of a story supposedly found inscribed in a temple in the blessed land of Fuuka. The irony amused Shiho. _I wonder what they'd say if they knew I grew up in that temple._ The melodic chanting of the reader hypnotized the room but Shiho was left unaffected.

Here is a tale; hear with your heart  
Of love, of sorrow, of Festival's start.  
This tale I speak, that you may recall  
and ever guard against the red star's fall

There once, and long and long ago,  
before the sun and moon we know  
were lit to sail above the world  
when first the shaggy woods unfurled,  
and shadowy shapes did stare and roam  
beneath the dark and starry dome  
that hung above the dawn of Earth,  
the silences with silver mirth  
were shaken; the rocks were ringing,  
birds were startled at the sound of singing.

In Fuuka, the land called blessed and wise  
a goddess was singing, cloaked in disguise,  
the first to sing in mortal lands,  
the nightingales with her own hands  
she fed, that fay of garments grey;  
and dark and long her tresses lay  
beneath her silver girdle's seat  
and down unto her silver feet.

She had wayward wandered on a time  
from gardens of the Gods, to climb  
the everlasting mountains free  
that look upon the outmost sea,  
and never wandered back, but stayed  
and softly sang from glad to glade.

Her voice it was a young man heard,  
and this he saw, without a word,  
enchanted dumb, yet filled with fire  
filled with wonder and desire,  
in that old time when men were new  
and walked the earth, their numbers few.  
He flung his arms to the night air,  
and out he danced unheeding, fleet,  
enchanted with enchanted feet.

He sped towards the hillock green,  
the lissom limbs, the dancing sheen;  
he leapt upon the grassy hill  
his arms with loveliness to fill:  
his arms were empty and she fled;  
away, away her white feet sped.

That was how the story began, of the meeting of a goddess and a mortal. Their courtship and marriage was the favorite part of many a young maiden. Unto them a child was eventually born but though the child was fair to look upon, its heart and mind was twisted and deformed. It longed for love like everyone else does. For love, for power it hungered and this it drained from other mortals. Draining their strength, making them hate. For the first time man knew anger, for the first time it learned of hatred and war. Blood was spilled and stained red the land of Fuuka.

The goddess wept and sorrowed at her child's madness. It was with a heavy heart that she erected eleven pillars to seal her child into a star and raised the blood stained star up to the night sky. The story was plausible up until that point but it continued afterwards to claim that the seal on the star was maintained by the combined powers of the Obsidian Lord, one born who could tap the powers of the star and thus drain its strength; and the Crystal Princess, the winning HiME who was the key to the star.

About the Festival little was said. HiMEs were regarded as simply girls with strong hearts who were candidates to become the Crystal Princess. Even less was said about the losing HiMEs, the ones who raised the Eleven Pillars. The story told by the Matsuri glossed over how that was done but Shiho had heard the full story from Midori. The story told by the Matsuri also didn't mention the death of a HiME's most important person when she lost. It didn't mention Tate, her beloved onee-chan. It didn't mention Kazuya, Haruka, Takumi, Shizuru or Natsuki. No. It was all about the two saviors of the world, the Obsidian Lord and the Crystal Princess. It made Shiho sick.

Listening to the drivel was a necessary sacrifice though. Shiho rolled her eyes when the sermon turned to the part extolling the virtues of the Crystal Princess Finally, the ceremony came to a close. Shiho hurriedly got up and left for her room when she saw, out of the corner of her eye, two of her friends approaching her. She packed efficiently and made her leave of the head priestess.

Shiho walked quickly to avoid the acolytes Irina called her 'fangirls', her brisk steps making her robe flutter. Shiho felt relieved when she left the white marbled temple, her suitcase in one hand and her ticket in another. In a way, this was unlike any of her other visits to Garderobe, the rebel base. Her messenger hinted that something was in the air. In fact Shiho had heard vague rumors of 'a falling star' and 'a shattered crystal' while in the temple. Whatever those meant, explanations would have to wait until she arrived at Garderobe.

After all, she'd patiently waited for Tate to notice her for years. She'd waited for revenge for five years, and would remain patient however long it took. It was an irony Shiho failed to notice, how the loss of her love fed the anger and hate that led to even more suffering. Perhaps it could have been different. Perhaps, but the time for regret was long past. Now was the time for action and she was sure the other HiMEs would agree with her on that.

TBC

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Disclaimer: Mai HiME belongs to Sunrise.  



	4. Assassin

**Twisted HiME – Assassin**

**by Mara S. S. **

"Why haven't you used them yet?!" asked Higurashi Akane frustration and anger evident in her voice. She was in the General's office at Garderobe, the base of the rebellion. Her hands were planted on the table and she was almost nose to nose with the formidable general sitting calmly behind the table.

"Haven't used what?" questioned Midori, suddenly jolted into her serious leader mode. The sparks flying from the eyes of the woman before her threatened to burn down the entire table but the red haired general was unfazed.

Akane stepped back from the table, her hands curled into fists. "The nuclear missiles recovered in last month's Tehran raid." she said, staring defiantly at her superior.

Midori's eyes narrowed at her former student's harsh tone. She stared at something in the distance as if weighing something mentally then suddenly her body relaxed and she propped her chin on one hand. "What do you mean?" Midori asked in a more carefree tone. "What does Akane-chan want with those sorts of weapons?"

Akane stared at her leader as if she was an idiot or had suddenly grown another head. "To launch at the Palace and Fuuka of course." she answered in a clipped voice.

Midori raised an inquiring eyebrow as one hand doodled on a piece of paper. Encouraged, Akane added "Just two missiles then kaboom!" She spread out an arm to emphasize that point. "It's the end of the war."

Akane was the best soldier in the Covert Operations division, but sometimes, Midori sighed inwardly, the girl took a bit of delicate handling. "Eh? I thought that was Nao's line, making things go 'Boom!'" Midori asked, turning from doodles back to the irritated demeanor of the operative before her, a cheerful and clueless mask carefully on her face.

Akane's face twisted in frustration. "Midori-sensei!"

Midori just shrugged helplessly and made a show of reaching for the phone on her desk. "Please excuse me Akane-chan; I really don't get what you mean." A few buttons were pressed and in short order, a dark haired ninja who was the general's second in command, opened the door and entered the office.

"Akane-chan?" asked Akira, a puzzled look on her face. She looked from the apologetically smiling general to the snarling assassin who looked about ready to tear Midori's throat out. Akira quickly took Akane's arm and led her out of the room keeping up a pretty one-sided conversation "Akane-chan hasn't been back in the base for a while; I hope you haven't been out of practice? Sensei's told me that you've improved but that you still prefer to use guns on your missions. How is the old man by the way…..."

-o-

They were to be found later in the training room whose floor was lined with straw mats and whose walls were lined with mirrors. Akira threw a well-placed kick at Akane's head but the older girl evaded it with ease. They were both sweating profusely now, tired from their practice. To Akira's relief, Akane hadn't mentioned what had happened at the general's office yet.

The two of them had become good friends over the past few years. After the festival ended, when the war was just beginning, it was Midori, Dr. Youko and surprisingly, Akira who'd brought her back to sanity. There was no room in her heart for a beloved aside from Kazuya, but a friend… a friend was what she'd needed desperately then. It was the younger girl who'd begun teaching her martial arts before introducing her to the teachers in the Okuzaki clan. She'd learned martial arts, and how to use both blade and gun. She'd been a fast learner. Akira could still beat her at the first two but it was the latter she'd really excelled at. It was also that latter skill she used to execute her targets.

Akane's training under some of Akira's former teachers had given them a common bond. Akane usually preferred to stay at one of the Okuzaki's strongholds in between missions. She said it was because there were more sparring partners for her among the ninjas. On the other hand, Akira was the ninja clan's representative to the rest of the rebellion. She was based in Garderobe and was usually busy either coordinating the Okuzaki and rebellion forces or leading them in the field against the government's military forces.

The brown haired girl was dressed in nondescript clothes. She was pretty enough but her features were all medium. With the lessons from Nao on disguises and subterfuge, she'd gained the talent of being very difficult to pick out in a crowd. It was a useful characteristic for an assassin and she often could – and did – accomplish tasks that neither Akira's troops nor Nao's street gangs could not. But the same skills and ruthlessness that made her good at her job made both Midori and Akira worry that Akane still wasn't as stable as she seemed.

"Hey, Akane? What did you ask Midori about?" Akira asked cautiously reaching a hand down to the other woman who'd fallen on the mat. To her relief, Akane didn't go ballistic and instead said earnestly "Remember the Tehran raid last month?"

Akira nodded, flexing tired muscles. "Yeah, I commanded it. We seized some missiles from the military right?" Akane smiled cheerfully, getting back on her feet and finding her footing on the rough straw mat.

"Some of them are nuclear warheads and I know for a fact we have a ship stationed off Hong Kong so if we launched it at the centers of government in Japan, we'd end the war in one single stroke!" she added enthusiastically.

Akira felt her body go cold and goose bumps rose on her skin. What frightened her was that her friend was honestly convinced of the brilliance of the plan. She didn't think of the millions of lives a nuclear explosion would damage. She didn't think of all the people who would be killed instantly. She didn't think of the life long diseases she would inflict upon the survivors.

Not only that, but humanity as a whole would be threatened. If the Eleven Pillars were destroyed – destroyed, not dematerialized – and the Crystal Princess killed then there would be nothing to stop the HiME star from descending and devouring the entire world. Midori had made that clear to all of them but it seemed that the reason for the Festival, like a couple of other things like innocent casualties, hadn't entered her older friend's thoughts.

Akira often wondered if part of it was that Akane hadn't known the consequences of her actions back in the Festival. She was the first to lose her most important person and the only one who hadn't known what was at stake when she fought. Now, Akane was treading on dangerous ground and she didn't even know it.

"That seems an… interesting idea." Akira said slowly. Akane's face brightened even more. "But do you really think we could do it?" Akira added, carefully choosing her words. "I mean, we would have a hard time getting the missiles near enough to Japan to launch them." A small frown appeared on Akane's face.

"They could also possibly detect the missile in time to shoot it down." Akira continued, thinking fast. "It's better to save them for a time when we have a better chance of success right?"

Akane's frowned deepened and she stood for a while lost in thought. Akira began to collect their belongings when Akane slowly drew out "I suppose you're right…"

Akira heaved a sigh of relief. "Well then," she said gruffly, catching Akane in a headlock. "That's enough practice, we're both tired. Let's go see if Nao's here already." Yukino, Shiho and Akane were already back in Garderobe. Midori wouldn't tell them the reason why they were called, only that Yukino had important news. Nao was the only one among the former HiMEs that they were waiting for.

"I wonder what took her so long." Akane wondered.

Akira laughed as they exited the room. "Nao-chan probably stopped to set a couple of explosions on the way."

-o-

That night, Akira reported what happened to Midori afterwards and the added complication worried them both.

Midori bowed her head and came to a decision "There's nothing we can do about this, let's just see what happens after the meeting tomorrow."

The serious ninja looked up, surprised. "You mean…"

"Yup." Midori grinned. "Nao-chan's finally here, now we can start planning the action."

TBC

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Disclaimer: Mai HiME belongs to Sunrise 


	5. General

**Twisted HiME – General**

**by Mara S. S. **

In the mountainous region where Garderobe was located, the weather was beginning to turn chilly and the leaves were starting to fall. They littered the ground with reds and browns giving Sugiura Midori the impression of a sea of blood. A lot of blood had been spilled already, but thankfully not on these particular slopes. The 'bad guys' – that was always how Midori thought of them – hadn't yet managed to pinpoint the exact location of their facilities. Garderobe was carefully built into the mountain sides with the bulk of the structures below ground. Garderobe was their largest base, but by no means their only base.

The HiME Festival had begun around this time, five years ago. It was fitting that the remaining HiMEs chose this time to gather. They hadn't all been together like this since the flight from Japan and the establishment of the rebellion. It was strange to see how everyone had grown. They were all more mature and more serious, as if the gloomy cloud of each person's loss hung over them all. It sometimes frightened Midori to think of the darkness eating away at the hearts of those she considered _her _girls.

It had been an accident actually, that she'd ended up the leader of what started out as a ragtag sort of group. She only meant to get everyone to safety but her sense of responsibility surprised her once more. It had been impossible to restrain a horde of determined girls hungry for revenge. The little acts of defiance had taken different forms but from the vandalisms, from the bombings, from the internet propaganda; from these were born the seeds of a rebellion. As one army after another was defeated by the Obsidian Lord's forces, small groups began trickling in to join them and they started to swell in size.

They didn't have a fixed structure at first. Yukino and Akira helped organize the different people but it was Midori they turned to for leadership. That there were kids who liked a halfway decent teacher like her was surprising. That there were soldiers willing to follow her was nothing short of amazing. It was Shiho who'd first jokingly called her 'General' and the name stuck no matter how much Midori protested. How can a delinquent student turned substitute teacher become a military leader?

And yet here she was, in Garderobe's conference room, watching as the HiME rangers assembled once more. There was a Council actually, whose proper business this was. But there were some matters that should end with the people who began it. What Yukino learned was something to be heard by the core of the rebellion first.

Yukino was the only one they were waiting for now. The Intelligence Director was uncharacteristically late. At the opposite side of the circular table, Fumi sat calmly sipping tea and talking quietly to Shiho. Nao was tapping her long fingernails on the table, their clicking sounds making a staccato background to the increasingly outrageous boasts she and Akane exchanged. Akira, the youngest but ironically the second highest in rank among them, was amusedly watching the assassin and the gangster compare notes.

"… but really, do bodyguards count?" Nao, alias Juliet, asked the brown haired woman.

"Well, if you're counting civilians, bodyguards are definitely counted. Besides, my targets are harder so they should count for more." Akane said, with a toss of her head.

Nao replied, a glint in both her real and mechanical eye, "It's not my fault you pick such difficult…"

"...such important..." Akane jumped in.

"… targets." Nao finished.

Midori let them be, the banter between the two was normal as they compared who was the more lethal. The animosity between Nao and Akane, and even that between Nao and Akira, manifested itself in the form of professional rivalry for which Midori was very thankful. A one on one battle wasn't too tough to handle but if Nao's street gangs, and the battalions under Akira's command were brought into the fray, things would get very messy indeed.

"Please excuse me…" Yukino rushed in, her breath laborious. "I'm sorry I'm late."

"It's okay Yukino-chan." Midori said, waving a hand magnanimously as Yukino entered and took her seat.

"All right everyone, can we begin?" Midori rapped the table once sharply, calling everyone to attention. All the former HiMEs quieted down and turned their eyes to their general.

"The reason we're all here is that Yukino has some news for us. Yukino?"

"Ah, yes." Yukino pulled her chair closer to the table and adjusted her glasses self consciously. "Last week, I received a message from a sleeper agent highly placed in the government." Yukino drew a deep breath. "The Twisted HiME and the Obsidian Lord will be going to Fuuka for the Festival's anniversary."

This drew a sharp hiss from Nao, a calculating look from Akane and a thoughtful nod from Shiho. Shiho added slowly "That _would_ coincide with the high priestesses' yearly gathering. I've avoided attending it but I'm sure I can get invited."

Akira added "It's the first time we've heard of the Crystal Princess leaving her Palace." The capable commander laid out a map of Japan in the center of the table, pointing out the relevant places. "Our best chance to strike is when they're traveling from Neo-Tokyo _here_, to Fuuka, _here_."

The Palace at Neo-Tokyo was nigh impenetrable. The Crystal Princess had a corps of elite Guards hiding behind high walls and state of the art equipment. They'd already lost several operatives trying to get in and even nearly lost Akane herself before Midori had put her foot down and forbidden any more such missions. Fuuka, on the other hand, was accessible to pilgrims except for one very important location, the Eleven Pillars. Around them was a barrier they assumed was created from the power of the HiME star channeled through the Crystal Princess. That too, they'd tried to breach without much success.

"I assume everyone wants in on this?" Midori checked and was met with an empathic affirmative all around.

"Midori-san, you wouldn't have called us here if you didn't already know our answer to _that_." Fumi gently pointed out.

The corner of Midori's mouth twitched up as she conceded the point. "True. Then listen up, this is what we'll do…." Everyone leaned closer as their general described the plan for this highly critical mission.

They would be dividing into two teams for this mission. The first one was tasked with kidnapping the Crystal Princess en route to Fuuka. She would be forced to summon her Child then the mini Miyus developed by Fumi and Dr. Youko would be used to defeat Kagutsuchi. There was an alternative to defeating Kagutsuchi actually, but it wasn't one Midori preferred. Without the Crystal Princess to channel the HiME star's power, the barrier around the Eleven Pillars would fail and the second team could get to work.

All their hopes were riding on that second goal. The second team was to dematerialize the Eleven Pillars. Everyone was on edge, the possibility of getting back their most important persons was something they'd tried to stop hoping for. Aside from that, each HiME would have their Child back and they could destroy the HiME star as should have been done a long, long time ago if it's mother had just had the strength to spare the HiMEs from such a cruel fate.

_What was it I told Mashiro a long time ago?_ Midori thought. Defy fate, that was it. That emotions could change destiny. That human will could overcome fate. Well here they were now, planning to do just that. A little weaker perhaps, with the loss of their Childs and most important persons, but still no less defiant.

"Shiho-chan will join the Matsuri delegation in her capacity as priestess. They'll arrive at Fuuka before the royal couple does so we'll have someone on the inside. The rest of us will split up. Nao-chan, Akira-chan, you'll be with me in the first team. Yukino-chan and Akane-chan, you'll be under Fumi-san in the second. Any objections?" Midori paused.

"Good." Midori outlined each of their entry into Japan, safe houses where they could stay, the number of men and the weapons under each team's command, and all the other little details that made a good strategy work. She was pleased to see that past animosities aside, they were still able to work together very well.

-o-

"What is it Shiho-chan?"

Midori was leaning against the wall, her arms crossed and Shiho was sitting on the round table facing her. Shiho had stayed behind to talk to Midori when the others left after the meeting finished. "I've been hearing rumors in the temple and I don't know what to make of them." Shiho said, a bit hesitantly, her voice now that of a young woman rather than that of a child.

Midori's eyes narrowed. "Rumors about what?"

"Nothing concrete." Shiho shrugged. "About a falling star, and about a shattered crystal." Seeing the considering look on Midori's face, she asked "You've heard something, Midori-chan?"

Midori was silent for a while. "Have you noticed?" She asked carefully. "The HiME star has been growing larger lately. Not as quickly as before, but it's still larger." Midori pushed herself away from the wall and pulled a chair close for her to sit on. "I have a suspicion, that the red star is slowly approaching earth."

Shiho digested this for a second. "And the shattered crystal?"

That had been the one matter nagging at the back of Midori's thoughts. Mashiro had explained some matters to her and Fumi had been a wonderful source of information. With what she learned from the two coupled with her own research, she had a pretty good guess of why the Twisted HiME and the Obsidian Lord were going to Fuuka. One little fact not widely known was that while the Eleven Pillars were the seal on the red star, the Crystal Princess was the sacrifice to sate the star's hunger and keep it dormant and unresisting instead of struggling against the seal.

Yukino had confirmed that the crystal containing the body of Mashiro, the winner of the previous Festival, was no longer in the Crystal Dome. That was probably what 'shattered crystal' referred to. The same fate, of being trapped in crystal, was slated for winning HiME. To seal the Twisted HiME into crystal, that was most likely the purpose of this pilgrimage. What Midori didn't understand was why it took the Obsidian Lord so long to reach for the full extent of the star's power. _Why now? Why wait five years?_

She explained all this to Shiho who took it calmly. When she finished, Shiho thanked her. "Thanks Midori-chan, I'll keep an ear out for any more rumors and pass it along." Shiho said as she left the room.

Midori caught a barely whispered "… hate her…" from the younger woman as her footsteps faded away down the hall. Midori sighed. It bothered her that her younger charges could hold on to the thirst of revenge for so long.

Midori left the room as well and walked to the dining hall. Night had fallen while they were meeting and the other HiMEs would probably be there. She absentmindedly answered the salutes of the soldiers she passed, worry gnawing at her.

It wasn't that Midori cared nothing for her most important person. It was that she wanted to be to be the kind of girl that he would notice. It wasn't like he was the type who'd notice a maiden's feelings even if she tried. No, Professor Sasaki was a sharp, only researching, somewhat unique older man she'd met an archaeology lecture when she was 17. Youko always teased her about it. She led the rebellion not out of a yearning for revenge, but out of a sense of justice because she believed that would have made the Professor proud. To make the world better, to protect and serve. She was idealistic, true, and that was why perhaps she would always fight in vain.

Midori entered the dining hall and walked to the table where the other HiMEs had gathered. Here, for a moment, they were smiling and teasing one another, the girls Midori had ended up being sworn to protect. The light atmosphere wouldn't last she knew, especially with the recent turn of events. Then as Midori joined them at the table, she cheered up and thought, _But who knows? Maybe I can convince we should karaoke one time…_

TBC

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Disclaimer: Mai HiME belongs to Sunrise.  



	6. Doll Maker

**Twisted HiME – Doll Maker**

**by Mara S. S. **

Her father was a doll maker, the old fashioned kind. She remembered how she used to sit in his lap and watched him sew doll sized clothes, watched him sculpt the wooden bodies, and watched him paint the porcelain faces. The Himeno's were not well off, but Fumi's childhood was happy with her many friends. She'd play with the dolls, talk to them, listen to them. They would have tea parties and she'd imagine herself dressed up in a fancy kimono serving tea to her friends. She'd mother them, care for them, teach them and the whole time they'd sit and watch with their adoring, perfect white faces. They were more real to her than people and she learned the art of their making from her father.

Over time, her eyes turned away from her dolls and wandered instead to the young men of her town. One in particular paid very close attention to her. One thing then led to another and suddenly, barely out of childhood, she found herself carrying a child. The boy who so professed to love her, left her instead, and her family was shamed. Fumi was still happy however, at the thought of the child taking shape beneath her heart. A doll that was alive, hers to love and care for.

Then a pool of blood one day flowing from between her legs. Shock, and tears. A small voice, silenced, before it even breathed its first cry. Hazy faces leaning over her, speaking gently, speaking words she did not understand, words of comfort and sadness. She was young, very young, and her body not suited to the tasks of a mother.

Not comprehending the loss, not understanding what had gone wrong, Fumi saw nothing more that was beautiful about life. Her father watched her in silence. Then one day, he presented her with a doll. No ordinary doll it was. This one was life sized, its body like that of an eleven year old child with a pale perfect face, and long violet hair.

Fumi had lost her interest in dolls though, and so the life like doll gathered dust sitting in a corner in Fumi's room. Fumi's heart only had room for grief, grief for the child she never knew, would never more know. It was a peculiar sort of grief, losing what she didn't yet have in the first place. Such dark thoughts filled her mind and nothing her father or mother tried to do could make her smile again.

At that time, when Fumi had lost everything, a hand reached out to her. The doll opened it's mouth and spoke to her. Fumi was surprised but clasped the proffered hand, her heart awakened once more. From that time on, everything she had became Mashiro's. Mashiro gently guided her out of the trough of despair.

Fumi learned much in the time that followed. Truths about herself and her destiny. Truths she might have been better off not knowing. She did not ask to be a HiME and she hated the cruelty of the Festival. But for Mashiro-sama's sake, she would stay her course and remain at Mashiro's side.

She could not remain there forever though. Mashiro had left, five years ago, at the end of the Festival. _Of course,_ Fumi thought, _her crystal has shattered by now._ So Fumi was alone again. Without her child, her Child, and her heart. Mashiro had been the previous Festival's sacrifice to the HiME star. The doll body grew weaker as time passed, confining Mashiro to a wheelchair. Her strength was being sapped by the HiME star through the crystal her true body was trapped in. That crystal was destroyed five years ago, when the winner of the current Festival emerged triumphant.

Fumi built another doll herself, not as large as Mashiro, but still in her image. It sat now on the desk in her laboratory at Garderobe, where she was packing the latest batch of dematerializers into large boxes. Mashiro watched her, blank eyes staring adoringly. It sometimes made Fumi miss Mashiro even more, but at other times it was just a comfort having a Mashiro-like doll watching her. Realistically, Fumi knew that the end Mashiro had come to was inevitable, but it didn't help to ease the pain of knowing she was gone.

That trickster Nagi was gone as well. He served well the vessel of the Obsidian Lord's but had to return to Valhalla at the Festival's conclusion. He was allowed on earth to guide the Festival, to perpetuate the cycle that protected the world from destruction. If Midori was right though, they had a chance to end the vicious cycle and spare future HiMEs from the fate they were bound to. After all, Mashiro believed in the spirited HiME so Fumi similarly put her trust in the general.

After the establishment of the rebellion, Fumi took on the task of studying what remained of M. I. Y. U. and became the Director for Special Research. In the middle of the chaos right after the final battles of the Festival, they were able to recover Miyu's body. It resembled nothing more than a helpless doll, battered and broken. It was impossible to return her to any semblance of functionality after the thorough beating it received at Mikoto's hands. Fumi, along with Dr. Youko and a few renegade scientists from various countries, were able to create devices they christened "mini Miyus". Constructing a full scale android was beyond their capabilities but they were able to replicate the dematerializer that was incorporated into Miyu's body. The final version of the mini Miyu resembled the blue haired android in no way whatsoever, but the name was still catchy and so it stuck.

HiMEs have the ability to materialize solid objects from photons, which are very small particles of energy present everywhere, in light and in other forms of radiation. HiMEs are able to subconsciously manipulate the bonds between sub atomic particles so they can 'glue' the photons together in a certain form.

In a way, it was surprising that no one had thought of researching in such a direction before. It was probably that while bonding between different photons occurred naturally, it was normally difficult to strengthen the bonds to such an extent as to be able to create a solid object. Fumi's research group used small batches of photons to test their theories and they were reasonably sure their mini Miyus would work on larger objects.

There were a few things they still couldn't account for though. Fumi and the rest were never really able to explain why only girls had manifested this ability. They also couldn't explain why the HiMEs showed an affinity for a certain weapon, their Element. Theoretically, HiMEs could materialize _anything_ and that brought up amazing possibilities. And even given what Fumi learned from Mashiro, the technical details of the workings of the Eleven Pillars were beyond her. She speculated that there was some sort of collector beneath the pillars that materialized a HiME's most important person, but since she couldn't examine the pillars themselves, speculation was all she could do.

Their first attempt at a dematerializer had been a large clunky metal box that rattled when they tested it. Their next one resembled a light saber, and the one after that was shaped like a gun. The gun form had been mildly disastrous, causing an explosion in their laboratories. Eventually, they became more and more efficient at designing a machine to dissolve the bonds between photons. One thing they realized from their mistakes was that a dematerializer best took the form of a blade rather than a projectile.

The process was complicated but their final design was shaped like a small knife. Akane had begged them for a broadsword she could swing about but they'd unanimously turned that down, pointing out that she could hardly carry a large sword around. Akane sulked for a while until Fumi agreed to let her and Akira test the knives they made. They'd had to take into account the need to smuggle a weapon into Japan past the heavy airport security so it was back to the drawing board once more for the Special Research division. Their new task was to construct a way to conceal the mini Miyus.

They received many suggestions, to hide them in laptops, in shoes, in bags. Fumi's favorite was Yukino's suggestion of concealing the mini Miyus in crutches and wheelchairs since the authorities would probably be more lenient in their inspections of those. The one that really cracked both Fumi and Dr. Youko up though, was Nao's suggestion.

During one of Nao's visits to Garderobe, the HiMEs who regularly stayed in Garderobe – Midori, Fumi, Akira and Yukino – along with Dr. Youko, had gathered in Akira's room to catch up with Nao's latest escapades with her gang in the urban areas she had influence on. Naturally, Midori and Dr. Youko, always the co-conspirants, had brought the alcohol along.

Midori was halfway drunk when she began spouting out ideas of where to hide a mini Miyu. With every cup she drank, her ideas got wilder and wilder until finally, an irate Nao told her just where she could put the mini Miyus. Fumi doubted it was anatomically possible, but the resulting mess, which ended with Midori puking all over Nao, was quite amusing to watch.

They'd ended up developing various ways to conceal the mini Miyus and they proceeded with its mass production. At the moment, Fumi was bringing the latest batch to the soldiers who would keep them.

"Over here Fumi-san!"

Fumi struggled with the heavy box she was carrying and headed over to where Dr. Youko had called her. Garderobe's hangar was extremely busy, with pilots and technicians everywhere repairing and performing maintenance on their planes. Military personnel were training in the open area to the right, where Dr. Youko was waving to her.

Throughout Garderobe, one could hear an excited murmur as everyone prepared for the upcoming mission. They hoped this would be the 'battle to end all battles' if everything went according to plan. Advanced forces had already left, and the rest were either leaving or preparing to leave soon. Fumi herself would be leaving in a few days, as soon as the last batch of mini Miyus were finished.

General Midori was everywhere, as always. Encouraging, and supervising. Despite her carefree ways in private, the general was a well respected leader who brought them through the tough times still intact. Midori cared for the people under her and it really showed. She also had good ideas – when in her sober leader mode – such as the wide spread distribution of the mini Miyus.

The mini Miyus were now being distributed to all their soldiers, pilots, operatives, and even most of the non-combatant personnel. If ever things went completely wrong with the upcoming mission, at least there would be people left who could possibly take on the difficult mission of dematerializing the Eleven Pillars.

Fumi carried the box full of mini Miyus carefully and when she got closer, Dr. Youko rushed over to help her. The doctor led her to where the 2nd division was lined up for inspection. Fumi watched the 'chin high, chest out, hands clasped behind backs, heels snapped together' soldiers as they waited patiently while their young commander walked down their ranks.

"At ease." Akira called out when she finished, to let her men (and women) relaxed their stances. Fumi and Youko continued unpacking the box and Akira turned to them, her serious expression becoming more friendly.

"Is that enough for everyone?"

"Yes it is." Fumi replied, straightening up from the large box and brushing a wayward strand of hair back into place.

A muffled voice coming from inside the box said "Give us another week and each of them can have two!"

Akira chuckled and smiled faintly. "Thank you doctor, but I think one will be fine." Her voice louder now, she turned to the watching soldiers. "Forrest! Smith! Help unpack these!"

"Sir!" A crisp salute later, two pairs of hands took over the task of unpacking and distributing the dematerializers. Fumi smiled in gratitude and Dr. Youko poked her head back up out of the box. The two of them then made their leave of the young warrior and left the busy hangar, Dr. Youko to make her rounds at the infirmary, and Fumi to head down the quieter corridors leading to the research laboratories.

When she entered her lab, Midori was there waiting for her. Midori was sitting on her desk when she came in, Fumi's doll cradled gently in her lap. Midori looked up as the door creaked open and respectfully put the Mashiro like doll back down on the desk before facing Fumi.

"You've distributed the latest batch?"

Fumi's eyes tightened and her lips compressed into a thin line as she hovered beside the door. "Yes."

Midori's face was sad and regretful as she walked out the room, her direction making Fumi move out of the general's path. Halfway through the door, Midori clasped Fumi's shoulder and said, "I'm sorry."

Fumi turned to the general, her expression softening. "I know you thought it best."

"Still, I hope God can forgive us."

Fumi met the general's eyes, eyes that like her were burdened with responsibility. "He will. He always does."

Midori nodded and left, gently closing the door. Fumi stared at the closed door and wondered _But can we ever forgive ourselves?_

What the other HiMEs didn't know, was that just as photon bonds can be shattered, so can other sub atomic bonds. The explosion from one of their earlier projectile models had shown them other uses for the dematerializers. In effect, the mini Miyus she'd just distributed could be turned into bombs whose potential for destruction rivaled even the worst explosions Nao had ever caused. The mini Miyus she'd just distributed to the soldiers under Akira's care. Like little dolls, they'd marching on their own merry way, never knowing the power Fumi now held over them.

She sometimes wondered who was the worst among them. Akane, who would do anything to reach her target without ever considering the casualties? Nao, who took a bleak pleasure in the destruction she could cause? Or herself, who made unknowing suicide bombers out of those who trusted her?

Fumi sat down by her desk and held the Mashiro doll in her arms. She straightened the dress and buried her face in the soft violet hair, missing the child she'd never known once more.

It wasn't fair of her to judge who was the worst, she knew. All the HiMEs had their own sins to account for.

If it was for the one they loved, any sin could be committed. But still, not every sin can be forgiven.

TBC

* * *

Disclaimer: Mai HiME belongs to Sunrise 


	7. Doctor

I couldn't find a real place in Japan called Fuuka so I'm considering it the same as the Fukuoka prefecture (prefectures are similar to states in the US). Fukuoka is southwest from Tokyo and South Korea is right across the Korean Strait from it.**  
**

**Twisted HiME – Doctor**

**by Mara S. S. **

This was certainly a nice change. Five years ago, Sagisawa Youko had left Japan covertly, a fugitive being chased by the government. Now she was returning to her home country on a plush private jet. The seats on the plane were spacious and soft. You could sink into them, the upholstery was that thick. The plane even had a bar, which Youko had taken advantage of, and a conference table at the back that Nao and her subordinates were using. Their flight had taken them high above the clouds already, an endless sea of white outside their windows. Youko sprawled out on her seat, with a drink in one hand and a lovely view outside the window and sighed happily. _Ah, life is good._

The _tap tap tap,_ of a keyboard interrupted the doctor's happy thoughts.

"Ne, Yukino. Relax will you?" She poked the frowning girl to her right. Yukino pushed her glasses back up, a nervous habit of hers, and smiled apologetically.

"Gomen, Youko-sensei." She said, putting a protective hand over the computer in her lap.

"What are you looking at anyway?" Youko leaned over the armrest between them to see the screen on Yukino's laptop.

A bunch of news articles. A map of Japan. Annotated reports. Estimated military strengths. Youko looked at the spymaster inquiringly.

"Last summer, there was an earthquake of magnitude six centered around Fuuka, here." Yukino enlarged the map with a few clicks and gestured towards it. "It damaged some buildings in Fuuka and was felt even until Korea and Taiwan. This however," she brought up an article in a geology journal, "says the earthquake was _not_ natural. So what caused it?"

She pursed her lips and looked critically at the map, as if staring at it would yield the answers to her questions. "Also, " she continued, " I'm worried that there's only the usual increase in soldiers entering Fuuka this year. If the Obsidian Lord and the Crystal Princess will be there, shouldn't there be more this time? It makes me wonder what's happening that we're not seeing…"

Youko looked sympathetically at the woman beside her. It surprised her sometimes, how all the girls had grown. They shouldered responsibilities and took risks while all the mother hens could do was watch. Youko was a doctor, true. But doctors sometimes had to worry about more than just the bodies of their patients.

She remembered Yukino as a shy and mousy girl who rarely stood up for herself. Yukino was still shy but the Intelligence Director was good at her job, brilliant even, especially at predicting events no one else expected. Yukino had guessed correctly that the Obsidian Lord would pull out large numbers of his soldiers from northern Africa to tend to the uprising in China. Midori had listened to her and as a result, Akira was sent in a good position to take advantage of the heavy troop withdrawal. The trio of Yukino, Midori and Akira formed most of the rebellion's strategies together and were the core of its high command.

Yukino was still frowning so Youko put an arm around the young woman's shoulder, the sudden weight of it startling the girl. "Don't worry about it Yukino. Midori and Akira will handle it when we get there." Youko reassured her.

Yukino laughed, straightening up in her seat, looking sure of herself once more. "But Youko-sensei, worrying _is_ my job."

Youko joined in her laughter. Yukino went back to her laptop while the doctor settled back down, taking a sip of her drink. It was nice to hear laughter again. Youko knew she was just like Midori, her ole college classmate. The two of them were always worrying about the younger HiMEs. Youko wasn't a HiME herself but Midori had left a letter for her, not just Mai, after Gakutenou was defeated. The letter explained everything Midori knew about the Festival and though Youko cared deeply for the girls, had even helped them escape from Japan, a selfish part of her was relieved she wasn't subject to their destiny and their heartaches.

It was five years ago when her own destiny had become tied up in theirs. Back then, the former HiMEs, one and all, had become stuck in a stupor after the loss of their most important persons. After Midori and Mai left her clinic, she'd waited at first, to see what would happen. When communications all around Fuuka were cut, Youko knew something was up.

She'd barged into her former classmate's messy apartment and shook sense into the usually fiery teacher. They'd returned to Fuuka Academy to find a brainwashed Fumi as well as the remains of a battered and broken Miyu. The two also found soldiers searching the entire campus with the names, pictures and profiles of the HiMEs. Their relentless search seemed to energize Midori and it drove her to quietly leave the Academy and round up the rest of the girls to take them to safety, dragging Youko along after her the whole way.

They would find out later that the soldiers were part of the Searrs' private army that was now controlled by the Obsidian Lord. They would find out later that that army had assassinated the governor of the Fuuka prefecture as well as those of the nearby Saga and Oita prefectures. They would find out later that the Imperial family was slaughtered along with most highly placed politicians and businessmen. They would find later that within two weeks, the entire Japanese army surrendered and their homeland was under the Obsidian Lord's control. They would find all that out later, when they'd safely gotten out of the country. At that moment, five years ago, all they'd been aware of was that they were being chased by people they didn't want to get caught by.

It had occurred to Youko then that she couldn't go back to her normal life, couldn't go back to being a doctor in a school. At that time, she didn't have much time to think of why she was doing what she was doing. She was just concerned with their survival. She'd brought Fumi out of her coma like state while Midori recklessly drove them to the hospital Akane was locked up in. With the help of Fumi, they broke Akane out of the hospital in what was quite an exciting adventure for Youko.

The next HiME they'd looked for was Yukino. It was a good thing Yukino was at the Suzushiro house instead of her own. The Kikukawa residence was surrounded by police cars and tanks, cordoned off from curious passers by. They would find out later that all of Yukino's family were killed, just as the relatives of all the HiMEs who fled were. Youko didn't have any relatives left, but she knew the others felt the loss strongly.

Shiho had frightened Midori badly. They'd sneaked into her hospital room only to find it in disarray. The sheets were ripped off the bed, the mattress had been torn to pieces and the pillows were stuffed into the toilet. The bed itself was turned on its side while the windows were shattered, glass shards littering the floor. A frantic search yielded the pink haired girl crying miserably in a park near the hospital, crying for her onee-chan. At least Shiho's tantrum and subsequent destruction of her hospital room bought them more time to evade their pursuers.

Nao was the most difficult to find. She refused to join them at first, but in the end, Midori took the expedient route of hitting her on the head and carrying the unconscious girl into their car. Nao had been angry with Midori about that for days after but Youko knew Midori really had no choice. Soldiers were already scouring the streets of Fuuka city to find Nao. If they'd stayed any longer, all of them would have been caught.

Youko, as the only non HiME and thus the only one among them not on the soldier's Most Wanted list, was the one who bought them groceries and other necessities. Midori had confided later that she was glad Youko was with them on that hellish flight from Fuuka. That made Youko feel better about all the danger she was driving them into, made her feel better about the choices she'd made.

The most obvious route out of Japan was taking a ferry to the nearby South Korea. Instead, Youko and the rest of the HiMEs fled south to the Okuzaki clan. They received a brief respite there despite Midori having had to talk fast to protect Akira from being punished for her disobedience to the clan. Fortunately, the elders listened and promised to aid them. They were smuggled onto a ship bound for Taiwan and it was there the HiMEs vendetta began.

Suddenly, sharp bright red fingernails appeared on either side of Youko's head and curled to slide against her face. Youko looked up to see Nao leaning over the back of her seat.

"What's up doc?" Nao said teasingly.

Youko relaxed and Nao walked over to a seat opposite the other two women. "Nao-chan, don't startle us like that." Youko chided.

Nao just dismissed the reprimand casually. Yukino looked up from her laptop at the younger girl who was dressed in a stylish looking suit.

"How's your eye?" Youko asked, out of both maternal and professional curiosity. After they'd gotten out of Japan, she'd arranged for surgery on Nao's injured left eye. The doctors were unable to restore it so Nao's left eye was now partly mechanical. Her vision was as good as ever thanks to the artificial eye, the A Eye as Nao termed it. The difference was hardly noticeable now unless you knew what to look for.

"It's fine doctor." Nao said flippantly.

The expression on Nao's face changed and it seemed to whisper 'I'm innocent, I'm a good girl.' She became weaker and her eyes took on a pleading look. "I've been taking good care of it doctor…" She said in a softer, more demure voice.

Youko laughed again, a genuine smile on her face. "Oh Nao," she said affectionately, "you should know you don't fool any of us with _that_ anymore."

Nao just spread out her hands and shrugged, back to her normal bored expression.

"By the way Nao," Yukino joined in, "I thought we were already booked for a commercial flight."

"Oh, that." Nao smiled, like a cat who'd gotten her cream. As if by magic, a state-of-the-art cell phone appeared between her fingers, was twirled around briefly then disappeared again. "I had our tickets changed."

The plane they were on was heading towards Nagasaki, one of the only two airports left open in Japan. Planes from other countries could arrive and depart from the two airports, but they could go nowhere else within Japan. Three years ago, the government tightened the security at its seat of power and banned all commercial and private air travel within Japan. Military planes now patrolled the air space, especially above Neo-Tokyo and Fuuka. They had orders to fire at will upon any planes entering the restricted regions.

Yukino's brow furrowed in consternation. "I don't know if the General would like this…" Yukino bit her lip. "We _were_ supposed to keep a low profile…"

Nao shrugged, "But this… "she waved an arm to encompass the luxurious private plane, "… is more comfortable."

"The Boss sure knows how to travel in style." Chuckled, not unkindly, a large man who came up from behind them. He was wearing sunglasses and, Youko guessed, probably had more than one firearm concealed in that jacket of his. He had the aura of competence both Akane and Akira sported which made the doctor think it wise not to cross him. The man was a member of Nao's gang and was one of the several bodyguards on the private plane borrowed from a 'business associate' of Nao's.

Youko knew that Nao was highly placed in the Yakuza, the Japanese Mafia. Nao had explained that the private plane they were riding was loaned to her as the repayment of a favor she'd given the mob boss in Los Angeles once. Youko wasn't sure though of Nao's exact position. She knew the girl served as the liaison for the mobs among different countries and that was how the rebellion was able to smuggle all their equipment into Japan. Everyone at Garderobe also knew that Nao had this penchant for setting explosions that damaged military and government facilities. Sometimes, Youko thought, Nao just liked the chaos she could cause. But at other times, she caught a sense of honor that was quite unlike the façade Nao always presented to everyone.

Yukino sighed in defeat and returned her attention to her laptop. In a way, Nao's plane _had_ made it more comfortable for them because they didn't have to resort to disguises to get through airport security. Nao turned an eye to the other HiME then, assured the other had no more objections, she got up and left them again to tend to business.

Youko took another sip of her drink and waited for the plane to land.

-o-

When they arrived at the airport, a little bribery easily allowed them to bypass immigrations. When they got down the plane, Akane was already there waiting for them, leaning against a parked car.

"Well you two _finally_ got here."

Youko just smiled and hugged the young woman who tolerated the display of affection with good humor.

"Everyone else is already in the country, " Akane continued as she helped the other two place their meager belongings into the car she brought.

"Shiho?" Youko asked, worrying once more since she hadn't heard from the pink haired woman in a while.

"She's fine, she contacted us already. Seems there's more priestesses than usual going to Fuuka this year." Akane reassured the doctor. "It will be a long drive for us to the rendezvous point." Akane added as she got into the driver's seat and strapped her seatbelt on. "Gomen ne, we'll have to take turns driving 'cause it's too risky to stop anywhere for the night."

"It's fine, Akane-chan" Yukino said, getting into the back of the car herself.

Youko opened the door to the passenger's side in front then waved over at Nao. "Oi! Nao! Aren't you guys coming?"

Nao ambled towards them, graceful as a cat. She looked pointedly at the small car then at the entourage trailing protectively behind her. "Obviously not." She drawled. "Besides, I have to pay my respects elsewhere first."

Youko shrugged and got in the car, closing the door shut and looked at Akane in the driver's seat. Akane started the car and checked, "Everyone ready? Okay, let's go…"

-o-

Hours later, it was now Youko who was driving and Yukino beside her on the passenger's seat while Akane slept at the back seat. It was close to midnight and Youko had volunteered for this silent graveyard shift. Yukino was still working on her laptop despite Youko's warning that she would get a headache from it.

"Kazu… kun…." A voice whispered from the back.

Youko looked at Akane through the rearview mirror. The girl was stirring restlessly and clutched her gun close. Youko sincerely hoped the gun had its safety on.

"Iie…. Kazu-kun…"

Yukino looked somberly at her. "Looks like she's having a nightmare."

Youko nodded.

"Does she have them often?"

Youko nodded once more, sadly. "Midori and Fumi have them as well."

Yukino took this in without a word.

"Though I'd guess Yukino-chan is more like Akira and Nao? Preferring not to sleep?" Youko guessed, trusting her instinct.

Yukino smiled faintly and answered "Hai…"

"Well at least try and get some rest will you?"

Yukino chuckled at this and obediently shut down her laptop. "Yes, mother." She teased, in the polite voice of hers. "You're always watching out for our health…." she trailed off, as she lay her head down on the side of the car.

Youko's hands rested lightly on the wheel as she thought about that while she drove them onward. Yukino missed something, for all her genius at observation. It wasn't their health the doctor was worried about most, it was their hearts, their minds. Mental and emotional wounds were much more difficult to heal than physical ones. Shiho, Akira, Yukino, Nao, Akane… even Fumi and Midori. _I just pray, that after this mission, everyone will be alright again…_

TBC

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Disclaimer: Mai HiME belongs to Sunrise 


	8. Godfather

I'm not entirely sure if it's accurate to call Nao a 'godfather' but 'godmother' doesn't exactly have the same effect.**  
**

**Twisted HiME – Godfather**

**by Mara S. S. **

Nao kneeled patiently on the straw tatami mats, watching as the two sake cups were carefully filled. A spider learns patience alongside deception, and Nao had learned both lessons by heart many years ago. The server poured the sake, the sleeves of her kimono precisely folded back to reveal a delicate wrist. As Nao picked up her cup, she was surprised, and not at all unpleased, to note that the cups were both filled to the same height. She glanced at the old man kneeling across from her in query.

Mitsuru Toyama was the most senior of all the _oyabun_ in Japan. Oyabun was the equivalent term for a 'godfather' among the Yakuza, the Japanese version of the Mafia. The term _kobun_ on the other hand, referred to the subordinates that were sworn to a certain godfather. The tight bond between oyabun and kobun allowed the transmission of culture that kept the yakuza like a fraternity of samurai in business suits.

The oyabun-kobun relationship was a parent and child role, with the oyabun providing advice, protection and help and in return receiving the unswerving loyalty and service of his (or her) kobun whenever needed. Nao's subordinates were sworn to her in that manner, a fact that tickled her laughter when the age gap between her and her gangsters was considered.

Toyama had had their cups filled similarly and she knew no one in the room would miss that little detail. That minute detail indicated that Toyama thought her of the same status as him within the yakuza's hierarchy. Of course, Nao certainly thought of them as equals, but she didn't expect him to acknowledge it publicly, especially with all the other gangsters present lining the walls for security.

"You honor me, grandfather." Nao said, bowing ritually before raising the cup to her lips. The server got up and quietly left, leaving Nao the only female in the room, and a godfather at that. That a female had achieved such a high stature among the yakuza was extraordinary, but then Nao had come to power under extraordinary circumstances.

The yakuza, as well as all other groups of organized crime, had suffered a terrible setback in the first years of the Obsidian Lord's reign. It wasn't only politics and business who'd had their top layer of control swept away, the mobs had suffered as well. The idiot had slaughtered the leaders of the different families and factions, both in Japan and abroad. The gangsters had wandered around squawking helplessly like a headless chicken, until Nao had seen the opportunity and stepped in.

While Midori, Akira, Yukino and the rest were all busy consolidating the forces that managed to escape the Obsidian Lord's armies, Nao had formed the Pink Striped Gang and directed them in small acts of vandalism in different urban centers. They had been her first followers, her first kobun. Nao was a smart and ambitious girl though, so she eventually set her eye on a higher prize. One, it seemed, she'd already partly achieved.

"It is an honor well deserved, granddaughter." The old man smiled paternally at her and sipped from his own cup. Nao bowed silently in acceptance of the compliment.

The complex rituals governing a yakuza's life were easy to grasp for Nao. They were just another set of weapons in her arsenal. She knew the veneer of politeness was necessary to disguise the ruthlessness beneath. She herself was a consummate actor and well aware of the times when a display of feminine weakness manipulated people's emotions in the exact direction she wanted.

"Grandfather is too kind." she said. The demure lowered eyes contrasted with the somewhat flirtatious chuckle. It mean nothing, they both knew. It was simply the beginning of a complex dance, the skill with words being just as important as the force of arms. Nao was well practiced at that dance and her sparring partners were no less than the best of the gang leaders.

Five years ago, she'd found Toyama grieving for his children and their families. He was in semi retirement at the time of the purge and thus was spared by death. He had been the chief oyabun in his time so Nao had presented herself to him, promising to keep the yakuza alive and to punish the Obsidian Lord for his shameful affront.

Toyama had given Nao his backing and she'd been able to complete the first goal and had even surpassed it. Nao had worked tirelessly, transferring the mob's operations deeper underground to avoid the government's close scrutiny. Gambling, always the heart of their profits, was done more discreetly and Nao's 'suggestions' had made that happen. She rebuilt the entire structure into one that could fly under the radar. A gift here, a greased hand there, and morons would enthusiastically overlook all sorts of inconvenient details.

Nao's genius lay in her gaining mastery over the other similarly leaderless gangs abroad. The Chinese triads, the American Mafia, the Corsican mobs, all of them agreed to work under her to destabilize the government and of course, turn a tidy profit along the way. Nao would be a very rich woman if – when – the war ever finished. What's wrong with using her power the way she wanted to?

"What brings you to Japan this time, Nao?" the old man asked, once they'd finished with the preliminary small talk. It was a formality, they'd corresponded earlier and the plans were already in motion, but it was a peculiarity of the elderly to want to hear things for themselves.

She carefully explained the situation, both what was official and what the young godfather had observed herself. The yakuza's main contribution to the rebellion was twofold, smuggling and bombing. Smuggling came quite naturally since drugs and other black market items had to be transported. What firearms the rebellion didn't acquire in raids on the military, they were provided by the yakuza. In fact, Nao had been the one to arrange for the equipment necessary for this mission to be smuggled from Garderobe to Japan, past the government's heavy security.

Nao also had this penchant for arranging bombings, both of government and military structures. She was a wanted terrorist for the many bombings she'd arranged in the past few years. Ironically, aside from Akane's disastrous attempt at entering the Neo-Tokyo Palace, Nao was the only one among the HiMEs who'd returned to Japan since the Festival. The mob always had one connection or another that allowed their young leader to enter and leave the country undiscovered. It was the corruption that always occurred in any government that allowed Nao to slip in and out. After all, Nao often said, it wasn't like she was in hiding exactly. They just couldn't find her.

No matter what the government tried to do, there would still and always be vice everywhere. There were always men willing to pay for drugs, booze and sex. Those were Nao's rightful prey, just as she'd preyed on the pedophiles of Fuuka City before. Of course, back then she'd needed the money to pay for the hospital bills.

When she was a child, robbers looking to swipe a little money had barged into her house and by the time she came back, her mother was the only one left alive. Her mother had spent the rest of her life in a coma, stuck in poorly funded hospitals, while Nao was thrown into an orphanage until the time she received a mysterious scholarship to Fuuka Academy.

Through it all, Nao had done her best to pay for better medical care for her mother. Her mama was the only family she had left, and family was the only thing left that she could feel such loyalty for. The yakuza were also arranged along family lines and possessed their own warped code of honor, but they were never quite enough. She always held a little bit of her self back, protected by an exterior adept at deception.

Even the other former HiMEs were often deceived by her. They saw only Juliet, the leader of the Pink Striped Gang, the corps of her first kobun. They saw only the bombings she'd arranged and not the organization of crime lords of which she was at the top. The suckers.

When she finished relating all the events that had taken place, Toyama thanked her and informed her all of her 'requests' had been carried out. The last shipments had been delivered already and the personnel for D Day were already in place and waiting for her command. Nao thanked him, and he replied by thanking _her_, and on it went the complex dance to maintain face and honor.

When the young oyabun was finally able to extricate herself from the grasp of forms, she decided to leave at once instead of taking advantage of Toyama's hospitality. After all, she could only stand so much politeness in one day.

-o-

Fuuka Suites was more popularly known as the Halfway House because of its convenient location halfway between Neo-Tokyo and Fuuka. This made it quite popular with the pilgrims since they usually went through Narita airport and traveled from Neo-Tokyo to Fuuka by train. It was neither the best nor the worst of hotels, but it was one of the largest. This was their busiest season, the time leading up to the Festival's anniversary and the time when the heads of the Matsuri state religion met yearly at Fuuka.

Masashi Takeda, the manager and owner of Fuuka Suites, watched as a red haired young lady surrounded by three large gorillas entered his impeccably polished lobby and went up to the reception desk. On either side of the reception desk was a large flight of stairs each leading to one wing of the hotel. The one on the right led to the east wing. The east wing held the shops and the hotel's restaurants. There were also elevators under each flight of stairs for the guests' convenience.

The west wing, unfortunately, was closed for renovations. It was quite a pity really, especially since the indoor swimming pool was on that side. He also feared they'd lose customers but safety always came first. The earthquake the previous summer had damaged the west wing badly and the extent of that damage had only been revealed recently in a building inspection. Repairs were still underway and the past month, workers had been climbing all over the wing like ants. A few of the guests lodged in the opposite wing had complained of the noise but Erstin, Takeda's wife and the co owner of the hotel, had easily smoothed ruffled feelings and simply transferred the irritable guests to better rooms.

If those guests had listened closely though, they might have heard gunshots from the wing that was ostensibly under repair. If they had looked closer, they may have noticed that some of the repairmen going in and out hardly had the bearing of workers at all. Fortunately, tourists and pilgrims never had that sort of inclination to be observant and Takeda's staff was discreet and excellent as a matter of course. They were hand picked by him and they all received a thorough background check at the hands of his Security Chief, Yamada, who seemed to feel that the most important characteristic of an applicant was knowing how to keep their mouth shut.

In this instance, his receptionists seemed to be having some sort of trouble with the redhead at the counter so he walked over to them and intervened.

"What seems to be the problem?"

The receptionist wordlessly handed him the reservation form the guest presented. A vein on Takeda's forehead throbbed. The reservation was for the penthouse room of the west wing, the one usually reserved for visiting dignitaries.

"Is something wrong?" The young woman smiled prettily, insolently in a way that made Takeda feel she was just toying with him. Takeda also had a feeling that even without the girl's efforts, the menacing bodyguards at her back would glare him into submission. Takeda sighed. _This must be the spider Yamada warned me about._

"Nothing at all miss, please follow me." Nao hummed happily and followed the manager to the elevators.

-o-

"You finally made it." greeted Akira, when Nao entered the hotel room.

Nao cast an appraising eye over the furnishings, idly noting the items that would catch quite a good price on the black market.

"Are Yukino and Youko-sensei here?" Nao asked, motioning for her kobun to drop her luggage to the side.

"Yeah," Akira said, putting aside her sketchbook and getting up from the sofa she was on. Akira had never really forgiven Nao for what she'd done to Takumi but they had a truce of sorts. Akira tossed Nao a set of key cards for Nao's appointed lodgings.

Nao sighed in mock disappointment. "And here I was, expecting the penthouse."

Akira just rolled her eyes. Nao smirked. "Has everything been arranged?" the ninja pressed.

"Yes, yes already." Nao said, turning to the door to leave the room. Akira picked back up her disregarded sketchbook. "Don't forget, Midori wants to talk to you later!" Akira called to Nao's retreating back.

Nao just smiled and flashed a peace sign before closing the door behind her. Akira sighed, and picked up her pencil once more. Sometimes, the gangster could be _so_ irritating.

TBC

* * *

Disclaimer: Mai HiME belongs to Sunrise. 


	9. Ninja

Sorry, RL's getting really hectic so it'll slow my updates down. Everything's been set up on the HiME's side already, so after this we'll be getting a quick glimpse of what's happening on the _other_ side. Just a few notes:

The first quotation below is from Sun Tzu's "The Art of War". The second is based on Mao's "On Guerrilla Warfare". And in most armies, General is a higher rank than Brigadier General. Demosthenes was a prominent statesman and orator of ancient Athens. He played a leading part in his city's uprising against Macedonia.And for those who aren't familiar, in Mai Otome, Mahya Blythe and Sara Gallagher are two of the columns; Fia Grosse, Rosalie Claudel, Carla Bellini, Laula Bianchi, and Anh Lu are Otomes; and Miya Clochette is a Coral.

**Twisted HiME – Ninja**

**by Mara S. S. **

A stupid enemy is a gift from the gods.

But when an enemy did something like _this_, he was either extremely stupid or extremely clever.

Okuzaki Akira scowled up at the ceiling of her room. The TV on a table beyond the foot of her bed had just finished replaying the Obsidian Lord's announcement. After the announcement was first read a few days ago, the news stations kept replaying it over and over again until Akira nearly memorized the damned thing.

Fumi, Akane and Yukino were lucky they'd left for Fuuka soon after the announcement was released, they didn't have to suffer this mindless repetition. The TV was now blaring on and on about some sports even or another. Akira reached for the remote on the bedside table silenced the TV.

Akira lay back on the bed and returned to scowling at the ceiling. The room she was in was located in the west wing of Fuuka Suites, a hotel run by two of their agents. Its ideal location, halfway between Neo-Tokyo and Fuuka, was what made Midori choose it for their temporary base in Japan.

There were currently three combat squads of twelve men (and women) each in Fuuka Suites, one commanded by Akira herself, one by Midori, and the third by another soldier, Miya Clochette.

In a normal army, it would have been unusual for a General like Midori and a Brigadier General like Akira to personally command such a small squad. But the rebellion had to use guerilla strategy because they were greatly outnumbered by the armies under the Obsidian Lord's control.

That suited Akira just fine, she wasn't the type who'd be happy sitting at a desk and pushing a paper around all day. Midori may have been their leader and Yukino their strategist but it was Akira who was usually on the ground, personally leading their soldiers. This operation especially, she wanted to attend to herself.

Their plan should have been simple. Kidnap the Twisted HiME, kill the Obsidian Lord, and get their most important persons back. Oh, and while they were at it, they'd destroy the HiME star and save the world as well. But no… The Obsidian Lord had to go make an announcement that wreaked havoc on their carefully laid out plan.

The royal proclamation had only confirmed what Yukino learned, the news that had set all their plans in motion. The Obsidian Lord and the Crystal Princess would be traveling by train – by train! – to Fuuka, stopping for a brief appearance at cities along the way. They even gave the date and the time of their departure, like they were begging to be attacked.

"It's a trap..." she mumbled, "Definitely a trap." The ninja turned onto her side and toyed with the dagger she kept up her sleeve. Up the other sleeve was the mini Miyu she always carried on her person.

It was a trap, of that she was sure, but Midori had decided to go ahead with their operation anyway. Akira protested. She'd been overruled.

Akira understood Midori's reasoning. With the Anniversary so near, everyone was already in place, both in Japan and abroad, and it would be too costly to abort now.

The fourth squad of the rebellion currently in Japan, the one commanded by Mahya Blythe, had already infiltrated Fuuka. Fumi, Akane and Yukino were probably with them by now, under various disguises. It would be difficult to extract them from Fuuka without blowing their covers.

Akira still felt they should abort the mission anyway. If the Obsidian Lord's and the Twisted HiME's visit to Fuuka was a matter known to the public, she'd argued, then security would be much tighter than if it was a secret visit. They'd be on guard for an attack, on guard for any attempts the rebellion could make.

Attacking in a situation like that was something the rebellion had always avoided. Their plans were always, always based on stealth and deception. They'd always attacked where the Obsidian Lord was not, always where soldier concentration was low, always where they were not expected.

"_Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near._

_Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him. If he is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him. If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. _

_Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant. If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them. Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected."_

That principle was something Akira was comfortable with because she'd been trained in ninjitsu since childhood. The Okuzaki clan was one of the few remaining families that still practiced the art of ninjitsu. Few of the ninja families had survived until the modern era, not even the once great families of the Iga and the Koga.

The Okuzaki clan was small and they'd sworn a vow of secrecy. Never to let anyone know they still inherited the knowledge of the past, still passed it on to the younger generations. They feared others would seek that knowledge for their own selfish reasons.

That was part of the reason the elders had been displeased with Akira, for outing them, so to speak. However, after the Obsidian Lord began his takeover of Japan, Midori had convinced them that the ninja clan's particular skills and talents were needed. Many of Akira's first and second cousins now served the rebellion as spies, infiltrators and messengers.

Both males and females were trained to be ninja, only Akira was a special case. From a young age, she was ordered by the elders to disguise her true gender.

It was a great relief to her that she didn't need to hide her gender any longer, that she didn't need to continue acting self-assured and manly. She still preferred the less restrictive men's clothing but her disguising as a male in the past wasn't an issue anymore. It had become a good-natured joke with the rest of the former HiMEs and her subordinates still addressed her with "-kun".

It was a long time before Akira understood why she'd been ordered to hide as a male. An ancestor of hers had been a HiME in the previous Festival. Her clan was anxious that the winner of _this_ Festival would not use her powers selfishly so Akira had been sent to either win the Festival or at least make sure the winner was an acceptable one.

She'd been disguised, ever since childhood, for that one moment in time. So no one would suspect her of being a HiME, so she could pass freely through their ranks. All it took though, was one split second of inattention and _that_ secret was no longer a secret.

That in itself was forgivable, her disguise was merely a device for her protection. What made up the bulk of the elder's displeasure with Akira was that she'd allowed Mai to win the Festival.

Never mind that she'd been badly injured, never mind that she'd been carried home soul sick after Ta… after Ta… after… after she'd been defeated. She'd failed her primary mission and _that_ was unforgivable.

Akira had never expected Mai to help the Obsidian Lord take over the world. Mai was the source of the Obsidian Lord's great power that allowed him to bring the rest of the world to its knees. That power allowed him to literally blast armies into pieces, in the same manner Alyssa's Child had been able to, five years ago. That was how he'd managed to dominate most of the world, by simply destroying the soldiers fielded against him.

But why had Mai helped him? Akira would have understood if her purpose had been to bring back… to bring back… to bring back Takumi.

But if it were only for that purpose, why had the HiMEs been hunted down mercilessly at the end of the Festival all those years ago? Why were there now bounties on each of their heads? And why was the HiME star getting larger, almost as large as it had been during the Festival?

So many questions, and now here was another one added to the mix. Do they know we're here? Is it a challenge? Akira feared they were the ones being baited, that they were the ones being toyed with. All they could do was to tread carefully, and spring the trap.

Akira sighed, putting the dagger back in its hiding place, sitting up on the bed and picking up her pencils and sketchpad instead. There was no helping it. They were already in the last phase of the war, all their preparations led up to this one operation.

"_In the first phase, the guerrillas gain the support of the population through the distribution of propaganda and attacks on the machinery of government. _

_In the second phase, escalating attacks are made on the government's military and vital institutions. _

_In the third phase, conventional fighting is used to seize cities, overthrow the government, and take control of the country"_

Yukino was the one who'd worked nonstop at gaining the support of the population, a regular Demosthenes inciting the people to rebellion. Using the pen name Diana, she published an underground newspaper and maintained an internet site. Possession of her newspaper was an automatic jail sentence but it was nevertheless popular, even in Japan. It was through those means she gained most of her contacts, her agents, her spies.

Akane sowed chaos among government and military officials while Nao contributed with her own explosions. Nao also helped ferment civil unrest in the urban areas she influenced. Akira sometimes suspected Nao had more than merely influence but the ninja really didn't want to know about the gangster's activities. She and Nao had a truce of sorts but she'd never really forgiven Nao.

Garderobe's council had been approaching government and military officials they'd deemed sympathetic, with Akira's clan serving as their messengers. They'd also been attacking government institutions over the course of the past years and now they were finally in a position where they could retake control of the world.

Their only stumbling block was the Obsidian Lord's power. It was what kept silent those who would otherwise be willing to oppose him. The officials they'd approached were more than willing to revolt _if_ the threat of the Obsidian Lord was no longer there.

He had to be eliminated. Without him the government would collapse. The rebellion did have some things going for them. The Obsidian Lord had always been limited to line of sight and there had been no visible display of power from him in the past two years.

Yukino had her suspicions though, about the earthquake the previous summer. That possibility made Akira shiver. If the Obsidian Lord could now cause natural disasters, the range of his power drastically increased. He definitely had to be eliminated, that was why Akira and the rest were here in Japan now.

Everything hinged on what would happen here in Japan but the rebellion wouldn't exactly be helpless even if they failed. The four squads they'd brought into Japan were but a fraction of their total strength. The rest were spread out all over the world, poised to take control of government offices once news came of the Obsidian Lord's demise. Or triumph, whichever came to pass.

They had battalions stationed in key locations around the world now. Akira mentally ran over the various region's commanders.

Laula Bianchi in North America, and Rosalie Claudel in South America. Fia Grosse in Europe, Anh Lu in Africa, Carla Bellini for Australia and Sara Gallagher in Asia, with Sergay Wong in the Pacific.

Sergay, Sergay was their insurance, their last guard against failure. If worst came to worst, he commanded a ship stationed off the coast of Japan, with missiles aimed directly for Fuuka.

Akira didn't want Fuuka to become another Hiroshima, another Nagasaki. But they just couldn't afford to let the Obsidian Lord's regime go on any longer. Akira, Midori and Yukino trusted Sergay to make the right decision if everything went wrong. His daughter had perished when the Obsidian Lord destroyed his hometown so Sergay had nothing left to lose.

Akira twirled the pencil in her hands. The sketchpad and her pencils accompanied her pretty much everywhere she went. She was a good artist even if she didn't boast about it. She didn't have much time to paint lately, but pen and paper were easily found.

It was something she enjoyed doing and she tried to set at least some time aside for her sketching. She now lost herself in her latest drawing, one that made her smile and feel sad at the same time.

Akira was almost finished with the drawing when she was interrupted by a knock on the door.

Startled, Akira instinctively rolled of the bed, a dagger ready in both hands. Her sketchpad was placed out of the way on the bedside table. She cautiously walked to the door, ears straining to catch a hint of the intruder.

"Who is it?" she called out.

A knock on the door, more tentative this time.

"Akira-kun? Excuse me, Akira-kun?" came from the other side of the door.

Akira opened the door a fraction, ready to spring back and defend herself at any moment.

"Excuse me," a well endowed blonde said, eyes widening at the sharp daggers in Akira's hands. Akira recognized her as Erstin, co-owner of the hotel. Erstin was one of Yukino's spies and a regular columnist in the underground newspaper under the codename 'Coral'.

"Yes?" Akira asked warily, opening the door an inch wider.

"Umm… I'm here to change the sheets." she said, gesturing to the push cart behind her, still half frightened by Akira's weapons.

Akira automatically ran over the possibilities. Yukino trusted the woman and she doubted the other woman was any sort of fighter so she decided to let Erstin in.

"Leave the cart outside." she said gruffly, opening the door completely as Erstin entered with an armful of sheets. She closed the door behind the blonde woman and followed as Erstin proceeded to remove the bed sheets.

Akira watched, on edge and with all her senses alert. She hadn't survived this long by letting her guard down. She let her guard down once before, and look where it got her. Then, a thought occurred to her. Why was the hotel owner taking care of a menial task such as this?

"Hey…" she said.

Erstin turned and looked at her, in the middle of tucking the new sheets under the bed.

"Why are _you_ the one doing this?" Akira asked.

"Ah, " Erstin said, understanding now lit up her eyes, "Yamada-san, our Security Chief, said it was better to keep the rest of the staff away from this wing. The less who know, the better." Erstin shrugged and went back to her task.

Akira digested this. It made sense, it was a precaution she approved of. Akira should have exercised more caution before answering the door though, because as Erstin finished replacing the sheets, her gaze fell on the sketchpad on top of the bedside table.

Erstin smiled, it was a beautiful drawing. A couple sitting on a couch, their faces turned towards one another with a happy expression on both their faces. The man's face was somewhat feminine but it held a sense of kindness that showed his gentle and generous nature. The woman's face was somewhat androgynous but her figure left no doubts as to her gender.

The man's left arm was around the woman's shoulders, and her left hand reached up to hold his. They were laughing, laughing together, laughing as if at some shared joke that only they could understand. It was a beautiful drawing. The two of them contrasted and complemented each other, just as the woman's white dress served as the foil for the man's black suit.

When Akira saw Erstin looking at the sketchpad, her eyes widened and she blushed bright red. She strode forward and snatched the sketchpad out from under Erstin's eyes.

"H… Hey!!!" Akira stammered, stepping back and clutching the sketchpad protectively to herself.

Erstin, surprised at the painfully embarrassed reaction, bowed and apologized. "Gomen nasai, Akira-kun." she said, then picked up the used bed sheets and hurriedly left the room.

Akira, still trying to control her blushing, sat down on the bed with the sketchpad in her hands. She did not enjoy being embarrassed. She put the sketchpad down in her lap and pressed both hands to her cheeks, willing them to return to their normal color.

After she'd calmed down a bit, she picked up the sketchpad once more, and filled in the last detail. When she finished, she put the sketchpad reverently into her bag, then left the room, quietly sliding the door closed.

Maybe it was just a trick of the light, but the couple seated on the couch now seemed to snuggle closer to each other. From their intertwined left hands now glinted a pair of rings and they radiated happiness and contentment.

TBC

* * *

Disclaimer: Mai HiME belongs to Sunrise. 


	10. Bodyguard

Mai will show up in the next chapter, I promise. I'm sorry if some things are left unexplained here. I had to edit out a lot of parts that were spoilers for future events.

When I think of the Palace, I think of something like China's Forbidden City. The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace and is located in the middle of Beijing. There's a lot of ceremony and very limited access to the Emperor (or in this case, the Crystal Princess).

**Twisted HiME – Bodyguard**

**by Mara S. S. **

Harada Chie resisted the childish urge to stick out her tongue at the woman who'd just left. Chie hated it when Marguerite Tomoe, her former boss, visited the Palace. Chie never really liked the woman in the first place. She closed the door and sat down behind her desk, swiveling her chair.

Her boss had been promoted the previous year and Chie was the one who'd filled the vacant position. Tomoe was promoted into some division of the military and Chie was now the head of the Palace Guard. That meant Chie was in charge of security at the Palace compound and more importantly, of the safety of the Crystal Princess.

The Palace and the various buildings surrounding it were built to house the Crystal Princess. The central building of the Palace was all hers with only select guards and attendants allowed inside. A lot of people who worked at the Palace had never even seen the Princess. She was like a precious puppet kept under lock and key.

As far as Chie could tell, the Princess had never left the Palace. The Obsidian Lord and a few other officials often visited but the Obsidian Lord rarely slept in the Palace despite the fact that he and the Princess were technically husband and wife.

Chie got the impression that they didn't get along very well. She'd witnessed the aftermath of one fight. The fight took place a few days after the previous year's earthquake but the destruction the fight had caused rivaled that caused by the earthquake. Chie shuddered at the memory. It had taken Aoi and her crew _weeks_ to clean up the mess once the storm subsided.

That event had started a lot of the gossip a small community like the Palace's was prone to. All the guards, servants and attendants of the Princess lived on the Palace grounds itself. They had no choice but to socialize with each other because travel in and out of the Palace was severely restricted.

It was rare for those who worked at the Palace to leave. Tomoe was one of the few exceptions. Life at the Palace wasn't unpleasant. You have everything you need, salary's way above the normal and you could have pretty much anything delivered. Food was brought to the kitchen daily after passing through a very strict inspection. The children of those who worked at the Palace had their own teachers. It was like a small, self-contained country.

Life wasn't unpleasant if you could ignore the tight security and the restricted communication. If you could ignore the fact that you could check in but could never check out. Some people couldn't take the restrictions and had killed themselves. Chie winced. Messy.

That was why the upcoming trip to Fuuka had everyone buzzing. Even before news of the pilgrimage was made public, rumors had swept the Palace halls like wildfire last year. The prospect of a trip to the outside world was exciting, especially for those like Chie who'd worked at the Palace since it was built, five years ago.

Everyone, down to the lowest servant, seemed to harbor some delusion that they'd be joining the pilgrimage. Chie was one of the few who'd been in on the secret before it was announced. As the head of the Palace Guard, she knew only the Princess's bodyguards and a few of her attendants would be going but she had orders to neither confirm nor deny any of the trip's details.

Chie had just become the head bodyguard when she'd been secretly informed of the upcoming pilgrimage. She received the impression the trip was part of some larger plan that Tomoe was part of but try as she might, she couldn't figure out what it was. It was fun in a way, dancing two dances at the same time. On one hand, to find out what Tomoe knew of the Obsidian Lord's plans, and on the other hand, not to let any of the other Palace residents find out who would really be joining the pilgrimage.

The second one was easier, despite the fact she was usually the one ferreting out the juicy gossip, the one digging for the truth, the one pestering other people for interviews. Confronted with speculation (and sucking up) everywhere she turned, she kept a blank face and rebuffed all who approached her with a 'no comment'.

That made for a lot of pouting and cajoling. Some formed their own plots but Chie didn't have time for such petty attempts to get out of the Palace. The upcoming trip had absolutely buried her in paperwork, above and beyond the paperwork she normally had in her capacity as head of the Palace Guard.

Chie sighed, removed her glasses and rubbed her forehead in an attempt to ward off an impending headache. She hated Tomoe's impromptu visits, but she hated the bureaucracy even more. At the moment, she had a stack of reports to look over.

She never knew being a leader would involve sitting at her desk so much, reading reports and signing every single scrap of paper. She'd liked it better before when all she had to do was guard the Princess. All she had to do was stay silent, unmoving, and perpetually alert as she watched the Princess.

Not that there was _really _anything to guard her from. The Palace at Neo-Tokyo was one of the most tightly guarded places on earth. There had been a few attempts to break in, but the terrorists were always caught and were even executed in most cases. Walls, checkpoints, patrols, sensors… Her predecessor had been very thorough. Chie's job now was just to make sure everything was kept in working order.

That meant regular inspections and, she groaned, paperwork. This was _not _the course she'd imagined her life would take. She'd had vague plans of becoming an investigative reporter but those plans had evaporated five years ago when…

Best not to go there, thoughts given voice can very easily lead to betrayal. It had taken her years to perfect herself, to learn how to discipline even her thinking.

It was late in the afternoon already so Chie decided to call it a day and leave the mess on her desk for her secretary to straighten out. She poked her head out of the door. She looked left and right to make sure Tomoe hadn't lingered unnecessarily. Chie really didn't want to face that woman again.

Chie slipped out and locked the door to her office. She walked through the buildings, looking approvingly at the guards stationed at regular intervals along the walls. She quickly arrived at her destination, bypassing the dining rooms and going straight to the kitchen. She chuckled as warmth and pleasant aromas greeted her. Sometimes, it really paid to know the cook, that was how she and Aoi always got the best of the food.

Everyone was bustling about in the tightly controlled chaos. Chie spied the head cook and walked over to her.

"Rena-sama?" Chie called out.

Rena Sayers was the best chef in the world as far as Chie and Aoi were concerned. Japanese or western, you name it and she could make it. Wonderfully. At the moment, she was arranging bento boxes at a nearby counter. On either side of her were her two daughters, Arika and Nina.

Arika was scooping rice from a pot and arranging the rice in the dishes Nina dried and laid out on the table. They were about the same age and would have been in middle school if they'd lived in the outside world. The pair contrasted with each other quite nicely. Arika was like a brown haired version of her mother and was the more cheerful one of the two. She was lively and made friends with everyone she saw.

Nina was shyer and quieter. She was an avid reader who often borrowed books from Aoi. Aoi had ended up taking the girl under her wing and becoming the girl's friend and confidant. Aoi later informed Chie that the chef had adopted Nina.

That was a bit obvious since Nina didn't exactly resemble either Rena or Arika. It seemed Rena had found Nina wandering alone in an evacuation center. A few questions revealed that Nina's father had perished when the Obsidian Lord destroyed her hometown. The girl couldn't remember any of it and seemed content enough with her position as Rena's daughter and occasional helper.

Rena's face brightened when she saw Chie. She bestowed a smile on the bodyguard and quickly asked her daughters, "Nina-chan, get Chie some tea. Arika-chan, hold this will you?"

Nina put down the plates she'd been drying and fetched the tea. Arika stirred the bowl her mother handed to her, bright and bubbly as always. Rena picked up a tray and began selecting what would become Chie's and Aoi's dinner.

Chie perched on an empty stool beside the counter as the chef moved about her domain. The strong willed cook wasn't someone you crossed with impunity, not if you wanted to be served anything edible. Most of the Palace residents preferred not to cook for themselves so they were at the mercy of whatever Rena chose to feed them.

Chie listened with half an ear to Arika, definitely the more talkative of the two girls. "… but the kitten hissed at me and wouldn't let me go nearer until I asked Mama for some milk to give it…" Arika said, excitedly telling Chie about how she got to know one of the kittens.

The Palace was home to several cat families. The children regarded the cats as their pets and the cats suffered themselves to be petted as long as _their _humans provided them with food. In this respect, Arika had an advantage over the other children, her mother being the number one cook.

Nina brought and poured the tea, handing the cup to Chie.

"Thank you." said Chie, smiling at the timid girl. Nina went back to the stack of dishes she'd been drying as Arika continued the story she'd been relating.

Rena returned, placing a heavily laden tray down in front of Chie. "That's nice dear. Now can you bring that to the ovens please?" she interrupted her daughter, gesturing to the bowl Arika had been stirring.

Arika obediently headed towards the ovens against the far wall of the large kitchen. Chie's mouth watered as she smelled the food beneath the covered dishes. She reached out to take a peek but Rena slapped her hand away.

"Wait for later, dear." Rena said, her hands now busy with some other task. "Oh and there's cake for Aoi, make sure she has some, she doesn't eat enough. Really Chie, you should take better care of her." Rena admonished.

"She eats more than enough, its not my fault her metabolism keeps up easily." Chie protested as she picked up the tray.

The chef just laughed and gave her an indulgent look.

Chie left the kitchen and walked to the building her quarters was in. Night had fallen outside. The sentries would be changing about now as the day shift gave way to the night. There were other people heading to the residential buildings and Chie had to walk carefully to avoid upsetting the food tray.

When she arrived at the apartment she and Aoi shared, she unlocked the door and turned the knob with one hand, carefully carrying the tray with the other. She hadn't realized how hungry she was when she'd been talking to Tomoe in her office earlier.

When Chie entered the apartment, she was surprised to find the light open and Nina sitting at the dining table. Chie raised an eyebrow and put the tray down on the table. The girl was quick. Even if Chie _was _slower than usual because of the food tray, Nina must have been pretty fast to arrive ahead of her.

Nina stood up and handed a book out to Chie. "Chie-sama, could you return this to Aoi-sama please? I enjoyed reading it." Nina said, in the hesitant voice of hers. It sometimes saddened Chie, to see the painfully shy girl. It made Chie wonder what the girl was like before, when her father was still alive.

"Sure." Chie accepted the proffered book and put it down on the table without looking at its cover.

"Thank you." Nina said, respectfully bowing then leaving the room.

Chie unpacked the tray and arranged it on the table, bringing out chopsticks and heating the tea. After looking at the table critically, she placed a vase with one of her signature blue roses at the center of the table.

Chie sat down on their sofa and stretched her arms above her head until she felt the satisfactory crack that meant her tired bones were back in their places. She opened the book Nina had returned. It seemed interesting.

Telephones, cell phones, TVs and computers weren't allowed in the Palace, so its residents had found other activities to occupy their free time. Chie preferred gardening but Aoi had developed a passion for books and regularly purchased new ones. The book must have been one of the new ones because Chie hadn't seen it around before.

Chie leaned back on the sofa, pushed her glasses up and began to read the book while waiting for Aoi to come home.

TBC

* * *

Disclaimer: Mai HiME belongs to Sunrise. 


	11. Maid

Whew! This is more or less halfway through the story. It's crazy how long this fic has gotten. Anyway…

Mai HiME has been compared to both Lord of the Flies and Highlander before. Nagi was even seen holding the book Lord of the Fliesin one episode.

Aoi is actually more like an aide or a lady in waiting. But if Fumi can be called Mashiro's maid, then I suppose I can use the term 'maid' for Aoi as well.By the way, can anyone guess what _really_ happened to Mikoto?

**Twisted HiME – Maid**

**by Mara S. S. **

Aoi's knock went unanswered. Figuring the Princess had fallen asleep, she cautiously turned the door knob and entered the royal bedroom.

Mai sat on the floor, the skirt of her rose colored dress fanning out across the carpet. Mikoto was purring contentedly in her lap. Mai sat right next to the floor-to-ceiling windows of the room, her head leaning against the glass.

Her red orange hair seemed one with the setting sun that streamed in through the window and bathed the room in light. There was a contented smile on her face as she watched the feline in her lap, like a mother watching over her child, or a lover her beloved.

The rose colored dress was slightly off shoulder and it left her neck and shoulders bare. She wore a necklace, a charm around her neck. Aoi had never seen her without it. She refused to take it off, even when bathing. Attempting to persuade her to remove it always ended badly so Aoi let her be.

A small garden could be seen through the windows, and beyond were high walls. Mai had insisted on having her rooms moved to the ground floor so the cats who roamed the Palace could enter at will. Mikoto loved the company, but the possible breach in security always gave the bodyguards a headache. Chie gave orders to put up with the cats though. The Princess rarely asked for anything.

Aoi spent a few minutes watching the scene before her. They seemed unreal, like the apparition of a fond memory from days long past. There was a mix of peace, and calm. Of regret… and longing.

Aoi felt like a villain, intruding on such a dream.

"Hime-sama?"

No response. Mai's gaze was turned towards the sleeping figure in her lap.

"Hime-sama?" Aoi placed the two bowls of ramen she'd been carrying on a side table and moved closer. One of her duties as the most senior of the attendants was seeing to the Princess's dinner.

Mai looked up now. Her features were slightly annoyed. She pressed a finger to her lips and said, "Sssh. You'll wake Mikoto."

True enough, from a nearer vantage Aoi could see that the cat was sleeping, its tail twitching slightly as it dreamt its cat dreams.

"Hime-sama, dinner's ready." Aoi patiently reminded the Princess.

The cat in Mai's lap woke up. It meowed, looking up at Aoi.

Mai seemed torn between exasperation and amusement. "Look what you did. Now I'll have to feed her again."

Aoi played along, just as she always did. "I brought _two_ bowls of ramen, Hime-sama."

Mai smiled beatifically. "Good! Mikoto likes ramen," she picked up the slightly overweight cat and held it up to eye level. "Don't you Mikoto?"

The cat just meowed in protest, and wriggled until Mai put it down again. "Ramen was the first food I ever made for Mikoto." Mai informed Aoi. "Right Mikoto?" Mai looked back at the dark cat now busily stalking some imagined prey across the carpet.

Aoi kneeled down on the carpet, in front of Mai. She sat down on her heels and Mai turned to face her. Aoi hated to see her friend's glassy eyes.

"Hime-sama, " Aoi said gently, "that's not the real Mikoto."

Mai looked at her, confused. "Not… real…?"

"Chie and I gave you that cat two years ago, when it was still a kitten. Remember?" Aoi fervently hoped it was one of Mai's good days. But it could have been worse.

She remembered what life at the Palace was like before, when the bad days drastically outnumbered the good. Those were the days that Mai could do nothing but weep and refused to wear anything but black. Often, too often, they'd had to sedate her to keep her unconscious.

Then two years ago, Chie made a suggestion that earned her the gratitude of all the bodyguards and attendants that had to put up with the Princess's crying fits. Chie suggested giving Mai a pet. Since there were many stray cats about the Palace, Aoi selected a kitten and presented it to Mai as a gift.

Mai had taken to the kitten immediately and named it Mikoto, treating it as if it were the real person. Now, Mai could even go for days without acting hysterical.

She still talked incoherently though, as if she lived in her own dream world. It made Aoi and Chie worried sick though they tried not to show it. Instead they simply watched and did their best to discover the truth. It was quite a step up for them both, from finding out who had a crush on whom back in high school, to finding answers for questions such as the ones Mai brought up unknowingly.

What happened, five years ago? What could have happened, that left their friend an empty shell? And perhaps most puzzling of all was, what happened to Mikoto?

It was partly to answer those questions that she and Chie worked at the Palace. They were loyal to the government, but only up to a point. Their loyalty was to friendship and most of all, to the truth. The task they set themselves was difficult. It had taken them years to get this far.

If they were honest with themselves, they acknowledged it was a teensy bit out of pride. Pride stung by their ignorance of the events at Fuuka that happened right under their very noses. Up to the very end, they ignored all their suspicions and boarded the train out of Fuuka.

They were indeed playing a dangerous game, but they had no choice. They'd left Mai, once, before. They swore they would never leave her alone again.

So Aoi persisted, continuously trying to draw Mai out of the prison her mind was trapped in.

"This isn't Mikoto… Mikoto…" Mai's eyes seemed to lose their focus, then her gaze fell on Aoi.

"Where's… Mikoto…?" Mai asked, as if the words were difficult to get out.

Aoi hesitated, wavering. It seemed to be one of Mai's better days but her friend could slide into hysteria once again before saying anything important. Aoi looked furtively around.

Then, she decided to take a chance.

She reached out and hugged Mai, placing her mouth right against Mai's ear and whispered softly, too softly for the hidden microphones to hear. "Mai-chan, what happened to Mikoto?"

"Mi…"

"ko…"

"to…"

Mai whimpered. When Aoi pulled away, tears were flowing freely down Mai's face but the Princess seemed not to notice them. Her eyes were unseeing. Slowly, mechanically like a robot, her head turned towards the dark colored cat that meowed up at her.

"He… promised. He promised to bring her back."

_Who? _Aoi looked at the other woman in surprise. Mai had never mentioned a 'him' before, usually it was just Mikoto and the cat's antics she talked about.

"He promised." Mai clutched the charm around her neck, her knuckles turning white, gripping the charm as if it were a lifeline.

_Promised what? _Aoi watched Mai intently.

"He promised…" Mai's voice was now harsh. She held the necklace up to the light of the sun. "The liar…" A sob escaped her. Her hand reached up to her cheek, surprised by the dampness it found.

"Liar! Liar! Liar! Liar!" Mai screamed. She was sobbing hard now, her face scrunched up in pain, her body writhing at some remembered agony. It hurt Aoi deeply to see the despair in Mai's face. She looked lost, like a part of her had been ripped off. Like her soul had been twisted relentlessly and turned inside out 'til there was nothing left of the cheerful girl she once knew.

Frightened by its mistress's outburst, Mikoto hid under the bed, hissing. Aoi's heart sank.

There was a knock on the door. "Aoi-san, is something wrong? Should I send for the doctor?"

Aoi tried to shake Mai's shoulders, but it was no use, Mai wouldn't respond. She was forced to allow Mai to be restrained and sedated.

She wasn't sure why their orders were to inject sedatives into Mai whenever she went berserk. She seemed harmless enough, being carried to her bed.

Perhaps… they feared her power? Aoi knew all the stories, that Mai was not just a princess. She was both hime and HiME but they'd never seen her exercise her power before, unlike the Obsidian Lord who'd regularly used it at the start of his reign.

Probably only the Obsidian Lord knew. But the prince to this princess wasn't in the palace. He visited often but rarely stayed over. The Crystal Princess seemed to be a source of both power and never ending frustration for him. Aoi had the feeling he was similarly frustrated by the state Mai was in.

Mai was actually one of the government's best kept secrets.

If the general populace knew that the Obsidian Lord's source of power was a crazy woman locked up somewhere… Well, the government didn't want to risk it. Aoi and the others who cared for the Princess kept their mouths shut. Those who didn't tended to simply disappear.

She'd heard that Mai was called the Twisted HiME by the rebels. It was ironic but they got the name right, in a way. Mai's soul _was_ twisted, it was writhing in agony, in despair. Twisted by the events of the Festival, events that Aoi and Chie sought the truth of but could never discover.

The sun had set already and someone arrived to replace Aoi. She took one last look at her unconscious friend before quietly leaving, defeated for yet another day.

-o-

Aoi entered the apartment she shared with Chie. Dinner was already set out on the table but Chie was nowhere in sight. She found Chie sprawled out on the sofa, sound asleep with a book in her hands. Aoi smiled and kneeled beside the sofa.

"Chie…" Aoi nudged the sleeping woman.

"Chie…" Aoi brushed a stray strand of hair from Chie's face and gently kissed her cheek.

"Chie…" Still nothing.

Aoi sighed and gave up, sitting on the carpeted floor beside the sofa.

The book half hidden by Chie's hand caught her eye. Aoi reached for the book protectively. A thousand possibilities swam in her mind. _Chie wouldn't… _

Then she relaxed. Nina must have heard she'd been having a hard time with the Princess earlier and had probably given the book to Chie instead. _I'll ask Chie later._

Aoi ran a hand over the books cover. The cover was plain brown with only the title and author embossed in gold. It was about a group of young boys stranded on a desert island. The boys all started out as friends but eventually began to turn on one another, arguing, fighting and later killing each other one by one. Its tragic consequences reminded Aoi of a popular television show when she was young.

A few hours later, Chie began to stir. Aoi put the book away safely. Chie blinked up sleepily then her eyes focused on Aoi.

"Good morning." _(Are you alright?)_ Chie said, yawning and getting up from the sofa.

"Good morning sleepyhead." _(Yeah. Sorry I'm late.)_ Aoi chuckled, playfully running a finger down Chie's arm. It was close to midnight already.

Chie reached for Aoi's hand and squeezed it. _(It's okay.)_

Aoi relaxed, feeling the day's tension draining away. Even when the day was frustrating, at least she always had this to come home to.

They reheated the neglected dinner Rena had prepared for them.

"How was today?" (_How was Mai today?) _Chie asked, in between bites of the food.

"The usual." _(Still not good.)_

"Anything new?" (_Find out anything about Mikoto?)_

"No." (_She still won't say a word about it.)_

"I see." (_You did your best. We'll just keep trying.)_

…

"Did you know? Tomoe visited today."

"Oh? Why?" (A_nything new from her? )_

"Just to say hi." (_Sorry, nothing yet. )_

…

"You seem tired." (_Hey, don't worry, Mai will be fine.)_

"Long day." (_It's been years already.)_

"Just get a good night's sleep, 'kay?" (_I know, but we can't give up now.)_

"You should too, oh great prince Chie." (_Don't you give up either.)_

They shared a laugh.

TBC

* * *

Disclaimer: Mai HiME belongs to Sunrise. 


	12. Departure

Think of this as the beginning of Part Two of the story. With all the build up done, there'll be more action. I guess I find fight scenes more difficult to write so please bear with me. I already know what will happen, I'm just having a harder time writing it.

I'm also shifting away from the one person a chapter format of the first half. This second half will have mixed point of views (except for Mai's chapter) because it's hard to get all introspective in the middle of a battle. Also, a lot of things will be happening at the same time, since almost all of the remaining chapters will take place within a single day.

**Twisted HiME – Departure**

**by Mara S. S. **

Reito grabbed Smith by the collar and slammed him against the wall.

Smith sneered. "A year ago you could have blasted those rebels away. You weakened yourself trying to bring back..."

Smith was cut off when Reito tightened the grip around his throat.

"She. was. my. _sister!" _Reito grated out, to the sound of Smith's choking.

A tentative knock on the door.

Sakomizu poked his head in. "Ano, Kokuyou -sama? The Princess is ready."

Reito released Smith. Smith fell to the ground coughing on his hands and knees.

Reito was brimming with barely controlled anger. "Tell the Princess," he spat out, "I'll be there in a few minutes."

Sakomizu nodded and wisely left at once.

Smith however, lacked his colleague's caution. "Still trying to impress her I see?"

Reito fiercely kicked the prone Smith. Smith yelped in pain and clutched his stomach.

Reito breathed hard, trying to reign in his rage. Finally, he said coldly, "You're lucky you're still useful."

Smith felt a burst of triumph and carefully concealed it. He hid it until the Obsidian Lord slammed out of the room. He got up then, and despite the bruises he'd accumulated, he had a pleased smile on his face.

-o-

Reito hurried to where Mai and the others were waiting. They were at the train platform, preparing to board.

"My dear, you look lovely today." Reito said, complimenting his wife.

Mai ignored him, instead stroking the cat she'd insisted on bringing along with her.

Reito sighed at this lack of response. "Why don't..." Reito reached out a hand to touch Mai but the cat hissed at him.

Mai looked up at him, her eyes seemed glazed and empty. She looked at him, as if not seeing him, but instead as if she was seeing through him. Reito found it very disconcerting.

Reito could feel the rage rising up within him once more. "Well, what are you waiting for?! Bring her in!" He snapped at the attendants surrounding Mai.

Without saying a word, Mai was hustled inside the train, still carrying that blasted cat.

Reito swore. If the plan worked, he'd drown the cat and kill the Crystal Princess himself.

-o-

Nao leaned against the side of the van. The crisp air was cool on her skin but she paid it no mind. It was dawn, the sky was beginning to lighten though any view of the sunrise was blocked by the buildings enclosing the narrow alley.

The nondescript van was parked in this out of the way alley, waiting for the show to begin, waiting for the storm that could be seen just above the horizon. Nao pulled her jacket tighter around herself.

It was stuffy inside the van. Her techies were crowded inside monitoring the reports from the gangs under her control in the various cities and towns scattered along the route to Fuuka.

Nao had stepped outside for a breath of fresh air. Perhaps it wasn't such a good idea.

She was... Fine, damn it, she was scared.

Scared of what? She didn't know for sure. She wasn't scared this mission would fail. Midori, Akira and the rest had used up the alphabet with their plan A's, plan B's, and plan C's. If it failed, it failed. Nao shrugged. She'd still be the leading godfather, she'd still have her power base.

Nao exhaled sharply and rubbed her arms, considering going back to the cramped van. Her bodyguards would certainly have preferred that though they'd learned by now not to argue with Nao.

People were starting to wake up in the apartment buildings. Voices floated up out of the windows, the smell of food, the banging of pots and pans. She pitied them living their normal and boring lives.

Normal. She hadn't been normal in a long time. Ice cold fear gripped her stomach. To be normal...

If the mission succeeded, if they dematerialized the pillars, she'd have her Mama back. That... that was what she'd worked for all these years. So it was a good thing, right?

Nao scowled and savagely bit off a nail. If Mama was back, what then? Would she have to give up all the money she'd stashed away? She couldn't imagine going back to school and heaven forbid, doing real work. That just wasn't her style.

It seemed winning was just as difficult as losing.

Her thoughts were interrupted when one of her bodyguards called out to her. "Nao-sama, they've arrived at the first one." She went inside the van.

Inside, a seat was given to her. She put on the headphones and watched the screen.

There they were, the royal couple waving at the crowds. It sickened Nao to watch how confetti was showered upon them. It made her even sicker to listen to the newsmen's glowing commentaries.

There would be a quick parade through part of that city, then they would move on to the next one. The town she was currently in was just one along their route, but it was significant because it was between _this _one and the next one that the rebels would launch their attack.

Nao was their lookout. She would keep an eye on the Obsidian Lord and Twisted HiME as they took a train from place to place. Nao had to make sure both targets were on board and she was also tasked with warning the other rebels of the targets' arrival.

"How long?" She demanded.

"Five hours, give or take."

Nao nodded, her eyes still glued to the screen. "Tell them."

-o-

It was D-Day, and Shiho knew it. The rest of the priestesses were excited about that day, but Shiho could barely keep her fears at bay.

It didn't help that they'd toured Fuuka and the surrounding area. Memories kept assaulting her and she was hard put to keep up her disguise when among the other priestesses.

There were more priestesses than usual at Fuuka, it seemed to Shiho that the entire congregation was present. Perhaps it was the Obsidian Lord's visit, she wasn't sure. Everyone who was in a position to know refused to talk about it.

Shiho wasn't completely empty handed though. She'd heard rumors. Rumors of some of the priestesses being abducted and taken elsewhere. At first it was all hear say, she couldn't find anyone who personally knew someone missing.

But then that morning, Irina disappeared from the building that housed the priestesses.

Shiho asked around, and her search led her to _this _building. If she remembered correctly, it stood where the Crystal Arena used to be. Except this building was much larger.

Everyone else was watching the news. The Twisted HiME (_I hate her!_) and the Obsidian Lord had already visited the first few places. They were scheduled to arrive at Fuuka late that afternoon and everyone would be glued to the television screens until then. It provided Shiho with the perfect opportunity to snoop around.

Still wearing the white robes and the white veil of a priestess, Shiho strode forward with confidence.

There was no one at the door when she entered. There was a large open space inside, almost like a gym. In the distance, Shiho could see a very familiar structure.

Then a figure in white, heading towards her. Shiho quickly started walking away before the person could catch sight of her. She still had no idea what this place was but it was her best and only lead.

She turned into an empty corridor, with rooms on either side. It lead to a dead end, but Shiho found a set of stairs leading down. The place was huge, there seemed to be a larger complex underneath.

Shiho peered at the numbered doors, but not daring to open them. Then the sound of voices and footsteps made Shiho freeze. Then the sounds seemed to come closer so Shiho quickly looked around for somewhere to hide.

She could have explained getting lost above ground since Fuuka was quite big but it would be more difficult to explain her presence here. At best she would be disciplined, at worst her identity would be revealed.

There were several doors along the corridor so she picked the nearest one. It was marked "Laboratory #17". She opened the door a crack. Nothing.

She entered and closed the door quickly behind her.

The room was dark except for some dimly lit things she couldn't make out. She fumbled for the light switch.

Shiho gasped.

She'd been wondering why so many priestesses were present for this Anniversary. Now she knew.

There were twelve glowing glass tubes at the end of the room. Each of them held a nude female floating in a greenish liquid with wires attached to various parts of their body.

They were of various races but all of them looked to be either teenagers or in their early twenties.

Shiho took a few steps closer in morbid fascination. Were they... alive?

It sounded cruel but she hoped not. Whatever experiments the Obsidian Lord had been conducting, she doubted it would leave their sanity intact.

There were several computer consoles lining the side of the room. Shiho pushed a couple of the chairs aside and opened one of the computers.

Hurry, hurry, hurry. She mentally willed the blue screen to load faster. She had to find out what this what about. If this was a threat to the rebellion's operation, she had to warn Midori and the others. Fast.

She breathed a sigh of relief. Moving the mouse rapidly, she clicked a folder labeled "Valkyrie Project". Shiho scanned the files quickly but not quickly enough.

There was a creak as the door turned open and a man stepped in.

Shiho turned.

"Well…" A blonde man with glasses drawled out menacingly. "It seems we've caught a rat… or perhaps, a HiME?"

TBC

* * *

Disclaimer: Mai HiME belongs to Sunrise. 


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